How to Launch a Steam Page and Maximize Wishlists

One of the top questions developers ask is: When should I launch my Steam page? There are two answers to this, depending on your budget that really depends on your budget.

$10k or More in Marketing Budget (1 to 2 years)

If you have $10k or more in marketing budget, ideally you should launch your Steam page between 1.5 to 2 years before your anticipated game launch. The reason for this is that you don’t want to accumulate wishlists too far out, as the chances of them going stale increase significantly after the two-year mark.

Furthermore, because you have a budget, you can invest in activities that not only bring in more wishlists but also build strong brand affinity around your game. The higher the budget, the higher-tier influencers you can work with, the more you can spend on ads, and the more recent your wishlists are, the more likely they are to convert at launch.

Less Than $10k in Marketing (2 years+)

If you have less than $10k in marketing spend, the more time you have to build wishlists, the better, even if some of those wishlists go stale. This means it is completely acceptable to launch your Steam page 3–5 years in advance and simply collect wishlists over that period.

The longer your Steam page is live and consistently growing, the more it de-risks a failed launch. For example, let’s say you launch your page and get 150 wishlists per month. That is only 1,800 wishlists in a year. Now multiply that by five years and you are at 9,000 wishlists, excluding wishlists from any demo releases, playtesting, and other marketing activities that can be done along the way.

Prep Time: 2 Months

Before your launch, you want to have about two months of prep time to give all of your marketing channels the proper attention and to get all of your marketing assets together. Depending on what you do, this includes:

• Steam Page: You will need a strong trailer, capsule artwork, localized descriptions, and polished game screenshots.
• Social Media: Make sure you have your social media accounts set up, branded, and most importantly, not shadow banned.
• Influencers: If you decide to use influencers for your launch, make sure you reach out early and get them set up in advance.
• PR: If you are doing PR, put together your assets and pitch them early so press has time to cover your game.

All of this takes about two months. Some tasks will require a budget, while others can be completed for free and simply require time and effort.

Steam Page Setup

The first thing you are going to set up is your Steam page. Parts of this setup may require outsourcing to other professionals, and you want to make sure that you have multiple components moving at the same time.