What actually moves the needle before you launch on Steam
Grounded in real launch data across 700+ games, not general marketing advice. Pick the question closest to what's keeping you up right now.
47 insights
Steam wishlist benchmarks, with sources
Every wishlist benchmark we can source in one place: 10-11% median Week 1 sales per launch wishlist, Next Fest gains across 16,878 games, 12 wishlists per follower, and demo conversion percentiles. Sample size, window, and method shown for each.
Read moreStore page & capsulePre-launch Steam store page checklist
Twenty verifiable checks across the three store page layers, ordered by how much of the funnel each one controls. Every item is answerable by opening your own page.
Read moreStore page & capsuleWhy is my Steam page not converting?
Usually the capsule dies at thumbnail size, so the click never happens. Eight causes ordered by likelihood, plus when a low rate is a traffic-mix artefact rather than a page problem.
Read moreStore page & capsuleSteam store page FAQ
Fifteen answers on requirements, permissions, publishing mechanics, artwork overrides and localisation. Tags publish separately, and library assets are a required second set.
Read moreStore page & capsuleSteam store page terms, defined
Twenty-six definitions covering the five capsule types, the four library assets, the written sections, tags, and the metrics used to judge them.
Read moreStore page & capsuleWhat your Steam store page needs at each launch stage
Announce, demo, Next Fest and launch week each need different assets. Build in funnel-leverage order, because the earlier a player sees an asset, the more of the funnel it controls.
Read moreStore page & capsuleHow do you track Steam store page conversion?
Steamworks reports visits and wishlist additions in two places and never divides them. How to build the rate yourself, tag campaigns, and read what Steam cannot show you.
Read moreStore page & capsuleHow much does Steam capsule art cost?
$150 to $400 for a single capsule or basic set, $350 to $650 for every asset Steam accepts. Below roughly $100 you are buying a concept sketch, not original illustration.
Read moreStore page & capsuleHow do you choose a Steam capsule artist?
Score the portfolio at 120 x 45 pixels against the six criteria a finished capsule is judged on, then settle revisions, source files, rights and turnaround in writing.
Read moreStore page & capsuleShould you commission Steam capsule art or make it yourself?
Commission unless you already own strong key art, because thumbnail legibility is the skill you are paying for. Generated capsules carry rights and disclosure costs.
Read moreGrow wishlistsHow to keep Steam wishlists warm before launch
Segment wishlisters into new, cold, and superfans, give each a reason to return, and pair the wishlist with an owned channel. Ubisoft's flow converted 2.8x more players on Day 1.
Read moreNext Fest & demosSteam demo benchmarks: conversion, players, and Next Fest
A good Steam demo converts around 16-20% of players to wishlists (16.33% survey median). Valve sets no benchmark for unique players or concurrent users, and only ~1.4% reach Top Demos.
Read moreLaunch & pricingHow does Steam regional pricing work?
Steam supports 37 currencies across 4 region groups. Suggested prices in Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, and India run 70-85% below the US price, tracking purchasing power, not exchange rates.
Read moreBenchmarks & conversionWhat's the average Steam wishlist conversion rate in 2026?
Plan for 10 to 11 Week 1 sales per 100 launch wishlists in 2026. The cohort benchmarks, the four different conversion formulas, and what actually moves the number.
Read moreLaunch & pricingHow many wishlists do you need on Steam?
Wishlist counts scale with revenue tier, from under 7,000 to 100,000+. Here's what the ranges actually mean, and why genre changes the math.
Read moreFunding & publishersHow do I prove traction to a game publisher or investor?
Publishers evaluate 3 things beyond wishlist count: attribution, engaged fans, and conversion data. How to build 90-day proof of traction for your pitch.
Read moreGrow wishlistsHow do I build an owned audience for my game?
Steam notifies each wishlister exactly once at launch. Games that add owned channels like email and Discord convert up to 2.8x more wishlisters into players.
Read moreGrow wishlistsDo Steam wishlists go cold?
A published cohort analysis found flat launch conversion across wishlist age groups. Here's why waiting to "keep wishlists fresh" usually costs more reach than it's worth.
Read moreBenchmarks & conversionSteam followers vs wishlists: what matters?
Followers are public, wishlists aren't, which is why analysts estimate one from the other. Here's what each metric actually triggers, and which one to optimise for.
Read moreBenchmarks & conversionWhy did my Steam wishlists convert below benchmark?
A benchmark tells you performance was unusual, not why. A diagnostic framework for narrowing down whether the problem is audience, promise, price, or momentum.
Read moreNext Fest & demosHow many wishlists before Steam Next Fest?
Roughly 5,000 estimated wishlists with strong recent growth. Pre-festival audience size explained 60% of the variance in outcomes across 16,878 games, and median gains jump 10x once a game crosses 500 followers.
Read moreNext Fest & demosWhen should you enter Steam Next Fest?
Enter the edition closest to launch, since each game gets one shot. February has historically produced 40-100% higher top-decile outcomes, but readiness should decide the edition before seasonality does.
Read moreNext Fest & demosHow long should a Steam demo be?
About 30 minutes of focused play is a useful starting point, with the core appeal proven in the first 1-5 minutes. Genre and replayability justify going shorter or longer.
Read moreGrow wishlistsHow to Get Steam Wishlists in 2026
How to get Steam wishlists: combine organic store discovery, external marketing content, and demo distribution through creators and festivals for growth.
Read moreLaunch & pricingWhen should you launch your Steam store page?
As soon as the game has a stable public promise, ideally 6-12 months before release. Valve's two-week minimum is a compliance deadline, not a marketing runway.
Read moreStore page & capsuleWhat's a good Steam store page conversion rate?
Around 10% of visits becoming wishlists, with 5-10% a realistic working range and 12%+ strong. Traffic quality moves the number, so always compare against the source and the page's own history.
Read moreGrow wishlistsWhat are the best channels for getting Steam wishlists?
Short-form video, Steam discovery, and word of mouth each drive a big share of the average game's wishlists, but the right mix depends on dev stage, budget, and team bandwidth.
Read moreGrow wishlistsHow do you get your first 1,000 Steam wishlists?
Below roughly 1,000 wishlists, Steam's own discovery barely helps, so almost every early wishlist has to be earned manually from outside the platform.
Read moreGrow wishlistsWhy are my Steam wishlists not growing?
Usually because the game has stopped giving anyone a new reason to notice it, not because a channel is exhausted. The 4 real causes, and when it's not a problem.
Read moreGrow wishlistsHow much does a Steam wishlist cost?
Free to the player, but $0.30 to $3 per wishlist on paid social as of 2026, climbing past $25 on weaker channels. What moves the price, and how to spend a budget well.
Read moreGrow wishlistsOrganic vs paid: which grows Steam wishlists faster?
Organic wins by default and proves the message; paid wins to scale one that's already converting. The right split changes by dev stage, not a fixed rule.
Read moreLaunch & pricingSteam launch readiness: glossary of terms
Tier minimum, visibility floor, wishlist velocity, and the other terms studios conflate most, defined and disambiguated in one place.
Read moreBenchmarks & conversionWishlist count or conversion rate, which readiness signal should you trust?
Trust conversion rate over wishlist count once you have both numbers. A smaller audience that buys well usually outsells a bigger one that doesn't.
Read moreLaunch & pricingWhen should you lock your Steam launch date?
Lock a launch date once your wishlist count clears your tier minimum and your conversion rate looks healthy, not on a fixed calendar rule.
Read moreLaunch & pricingSteam launch readiness checklist
A game is launch-ready when its wishlist count clears its tier minimum, its conversion rate isn't a red flag, and there's still time for one final push.
Read moreLaunch & pricingShould you delay your Steam launch?
Delay if your wishlist count is well below your tier minimum and your conversion rate is also weak. The four questions that actually decide it.
Read moreLaunch & pricingHow do you track Steam launch readiness week over week?
Track how fast your wishlist count is growing, not just the running total, checking it weekly rather than once a month.
Read moreLaunch & pricingShould you launch at a discount or at full price?
Discount by default: it is the only cut Steam allows in your first 30 days. The four cases where full price wins, and how deep to go when it doesn't.
Read moreLaunch & pricingEmail vs Discord for your game launch
Email reaches every subscriber on launch day; Discord only reaches members who left notifications on. Seven criteria, and the job each channel is actually good at.
Read moreLaunch & pricingHow does Steam notify wishlisters at launch?
One automatic email and push, no developer control. Five reasons it doesn't land, starting with the two-week cooldown per App ID that blocks a second send.
Read moreBenchmarks & conversionSteam launch conversion terms, defined
Fifteen definitions separating Valve's fixed rules from the benchmarks: wishlist balance, the two ratios both called conversion, cooldowns, and refunds.
Read moreCreators & influencersWhat goes in an indie game press kit?
Eight sections, copyable as a folder structure, plus where to host it and the five mistakes that make a writer click back instead of downloading.
Read moreGrow wishlistsWhy does Steam UTM tracking undercount your marketing?
Steam's UTM tracking only counts wishlists and purchases made within 72 hours of a tracked click, in the same logged-in browser. Demo downloads and cross-browser journeys never count, so low numbers usually mean lost attribution, not a failed campaign.
Read moreGrow wishlistsSteam Update Visibility Rounds explained
Valve's post-launch promotional slots: each game gets five lifetime rounds, and each round runs 30 days or 1 million impressions, whichever comes first.
Read moreGrow wishlistsWhat can you track on Steam without Steamworks access?
Steam publishes follower count, review count and score, price, tags, launch date and top-seller rank. Real wishlist counts, impressions, and channel attribution stay behind the developer login.
Read moreGrow wishlistsHow do you build marketing attribution outside Steam?
Measure the click on a layer you control, a tracked landing page that captures an owned identity, before traffic reaches Steam. Steam's own UTM analytics credits only wishlists and purchases within 72 hours of a trusted visit.
Read moreGrow wishlistsSteam marketing attribution glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms studios meet when doing marketing attribution for Steam games, from UTM parameters to Update Visibility Rounds.
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