How to Build a Game Audience Before Launch (And Why It Determines Success)

A game's success, and de-risking failure, is dependent on the number of people it can get to wishlist or pre-order before the game's launch as a game will see up to 90% of its conversions in the first month. This true for indies games to AAA and for both premium and freemium games. Take Call of duties first months as an example.

Typically, the longer a game spends building an audience, the better the launch of the game, but building the audience takes time. The timelines differs slightly between indie studios and Triple I / AA studios, primarily based on budget, ranging from months to years.

3 Months Is the Absolute Minimum  

The shortest amount of time you should market your game is three months. Anything shorter does not allow enough time to optimize campaigns. You also won’t have sufficient time to execute important beats such as playtesting and iteration.

6 Months for Indies With Budgets  

If an indie studio has a small marketing budget ($10k to $100k), six months becomes a strong timeframe. This allows teams to optimize and scale ad campaigns, find and work with influencers, conduct playtesting, grow social media channels, and participate in festivals.

1 to 1.5 Years for Triple I / AA  

With larger marketing budgets ($100k to $3 million), studios can fully optimize their efforts. This includes proper unveilings and announcements, large-scale playtests, and stronger, more consistent growth across all channels.

2–5 Years for Indies With No Budget  

With no budget, you will likely need all the time you can get. Getting your storefront live early and collecting as much interest as possible is critical. Building in public and leveraging social media tends to be the most effective approach in this scenario as you will need a slow and long term growth plan without a budget.