Last week I talked about tagging procedures on Steam (See Steam 101: How to Tag Your Game). Tagging is hard. I have found cases where well meaning indie devs incorrectly tag their game and inadvertent opt their game into a very selective subculture like some clueless tourist committing a faux-pas Continue Reading

Today I want to cover something that people who are new to Steam often have a problem with: Tags. If you have a couple games on Steam this post might be a bit basic but stick around because there are always little tricks that are worth reviewing. Why bother? What Continue Reading

Elections are just giant, (thankfully) temporary marketing campaigns. When I was 22 I got my first exposure to marketing when I served a minor role on an insignificant state-wide campaign in Arizona. The position was minor but I learned a lot and I figure this year’s election would be a Continue Reading

Making a capsule that accurately captures the mood and feeling of your game and yet also attracts players is a very tricky thing. It is my belief that your capsule should be interesting but also should have subtle clues that signal players as to your game’s genre. If you look Continue Reading

NOTE: This article has been updated. This one is still important to read, but you can find even more details and more information in the 2022 version of this study: What Genres Are Popular on Steam in 2022. One of the findings from the Summer Festival (which I wrote up Continue Reading

After your game launches on Steam there is a strange cyclical sales behavior that emerges. Every 8 weeks you can put your game on sale. When you do it triggers an email to everyone who wishlisted your game, which causes some of them to buy it. All those new purchases Continue Reading

On Steam you can broadcast video of your game live to your Steam page. It seems to be very effective in attracting viewers and increasing the number of wishlists In June I collected data on how many wishlists people got during the Steam Summer Festival. I asked participants whether they Continue Reading

Thousands of Steam games are released every year and the quality of them is constantly rising. Similarly, our customer base has a finite amount of time and can only play 1 game during that time. So why should I help you with your game’s marketing with this free blog since Continue Reading

Last week Valve’s Steam product team participated in a series of zoom-based closed-door Q&A’s. Typically Valve does these Q&As as part of major conferences… but we are in a different world now where those are not possible. The sessions were not recorded and I don’t think they will be shared Continue Reading

This past week everyone has been talking about the “out of no where” “overnight” success of Among Us. If you haven’t seen the chatter, check out this and this great analysis from Simon Carless. Also look at this graph of reviews. This is hockey-stick growth. Basically, Among Us is made Continue Reading