Access
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Documents about Access
Assembling a Community Before You Start Making Your Game
The core thesis of this analysis is that modern game discovery and long-term success depend on proactive community cultivation and strategic content delivery.
- Prioritize building a dedicated community, ideally via Discord, before entering production to validate market fit and mitigate the risk of launching to an empty audience.
- Windwalk Games demonstrated that a zero-dollar budget can yield a 30,000-member community by utilizing genre-specific evangelism and giveaways prior to finalizing game design.
- Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher 2 achieved 300,000 units sold within days of launch by leveraging the Games-as-a-Service model and delivering substantial, adventure-like content updates during Early Access.
Pitching to Game Publishers: Lessons From an In-progress Deal
This analysis examines the strategic process of pitching a video game sequel to publishers and investors, using the development of Gremlins, Inc. 2 by studio Charlie Oscar as a primary case study.
- Modern publishers prioritize audience alignment over product quality, specifically evaluating how a game's geographic and demographic reach complements their existing portfolio.
- Pitching established intellectual property requires data-heavy presentations that leverage existing player statistics to mitigate perceived investment risk.
- Securing equity investment for a studio stake is currently easier than obtaining traditional publishing deals due to public companies' desire for immediate growth through ownership.
Deep Dive: How Big Ambitions Hit It Big on Steam
The primary focus of this analysis is the commercial success and marketing strategy of the Steam title Big Ambitions, an open-world business simulation developed by Hovgaard Games.
- Hovgaard Games' 'Big Ambitions' achieved 163,000 unit sales within its first 20 days of Early Access in March 2023, demonstrating the commercial viability of complex simulation titles.
- Targeted influencer outreach to 1,000 creators—utilizing cross-genre comparisons like 'Grand Theft Auto meets Cities Skylines'—drove a 'hockey-stick' growth in wishlists from 67,000 to 93,000 by launch day.
- The game’s sales were geographically balanced, with Germany, France, and the United States each contributing 16% of total unit sales.
Sons of the Forest: So Big It Broke Steam?
The late February 2023 gaming market was defined by a surge of high-performing PC debuts and the continued commercial dominance of major triple-A franchises.
- Hogwarts Legacy dominated the global market with 12 million units sold and $850 million in revenue, leading download charts across PlayStation, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store.
- Sons of the Forest achieved the year's second-largest Steam debut with 330,000 concurrent users, causing temporary storefront instability while maintaining an 88% positive rating.
- Atomic Heart and Company of Heroes 3 saw moderate PC success with 38,500 and 36,600 concurrent users respectively, though the latter faced mixed reviews due to technical issues.
How the Long Dark Scaled to 10 Million Players – and What's Next
This analysis examines the long-term commercial trajectory of the survival title The Long Dark, which has reached 10 million lifetime players and 1 million monthly active users.
- The Long Dark reached 10 million lifetime players, with 4 million paid Steam users, 2.75 million on Xbox, 1.8 million on PlayStation, and 1.5 million via the Epic Games Store.
- Subscription services are a primary driver of reach, accounting for 2 million Xbox Game Pass users and 1.3 million PlayStation Plus users.
- Hinterland Studio is shifting its business model by unbundling Survival and Story modes to a $19.99 entry price and introducing a paid expansion pass to improve monetization.
Key Success Factors for ZERO Sievert
The success of the top-down extraction shooter ZERO Sievert, developed by CABO Studio, serves as a case study for effective indie game marketing and genre innovation.
- ZERO Sievert generated $1.3 million in its first week of Early Access in November 2022 and surpassed $3.1 million in total revenue shortly thereafter.
- The developer successfully adapted the hardcore extraction shooter genre into a single-player, pixel-art format, removing multiplayer barriers to capture a niche audience.
- Influencer coverage from streamers and YouTubers was a primary driver for consistent wishlist growth, even during periods of developer inactivity.
How a Pixel Art Shooter Achieved a Million Dollar Launch: The ZERO Sievert Story
The success of the pixel art shooter ZERO Sievert, which generated over $1.38 million in its first week of Early Access, serves as a case study for effective indie game marketing.
- ZERO Sievert achieved a successful Early Access launch on November 15, 2022, generating $1,380,963 in revenue within one week and $3,134,665 within two months from 184,862 units sold.
- The game's marketing success was driven by 277,966 wishlists at launch, which were built through consistent streamer outreach and participation in major events like Steam Next Fest.
- Streamer coverage acts as a high-quality acquisition channel; for example, influencer Splattercat’s videos resulted in wishlist cohorts that converted to sales at rates exceeding 22%.
Top 2022 Steam Games by Gross Revenue
Valve’s annual performance summary identifies the highest-grossing titles on the Steam platform for the 2022 calendar year.
- Valve categorized 2022 Steam top performers into four revenue tiers—Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze—based on gross revenue generated between January 1 and December 18, 2022.
- Top-tier grossing titles for 2022 included major AAA releases like Elden Ring, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, alongside live-service games Destiny 2 and Lost Ark.
- Long-standing industry staples, specifically Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and PUBG: Battlegrounds, maintained their status as top-grossing titles throughout the year.
The Long Dark Director Explains Why Indie Devs Should Educate Players About Healthy Revenue
The director of Hinterland, Raphael van Lierop, emphasizes the necessity for independent developers to maintain transparent communication with their player base regarding the financial requirements of game development.
- Hinterland transitioned The Long Dark from a single $34.99 purchase to a tiered model, offering the base survival mode for $19.99 and the Wintermute story mode as optional paid DLC to ensure sustainable revenue.
- The Long Dark has reached over 10 million players since its 2014 Early Access launch, maintaining over 1 million monthly active users through consistent updates and strategic expansion.
- Hinterland’s multi-platform distribution includes 4 million units on Steam, 1.5 million on the Epic Games Store, 1.3 million on PlayStation, and 750,000 on Xbox.
From Prototype Funding to a Publishing Deal: Tiny Roar and Daedalic Entertainment Partner for Wanderful
The Hamburg-based game developer Tiny Roar has secured a publishing agreement with Daedalic Entertainment for its upcoming title, Wanderful.
- Developer Tiny Roar secured a publishing deal with Daedalic Entertainment for their upcoming cozy worldbuilder, Wanderful.
- The project, originally titled HEXAGONE, received 80,000 € in prototype funding from Gamecity Hamburg earlier in 2022.
- Wanderful is a procedurally generated worldbuilding game designed for 5 to 30-minute play sessions.
Week of the Spider‑Lamb
This analysis examines a significant surge in high-profile Steam releases during August 2022, a period characterized by the rare simultaneous launch of multiple titles with high pre-release anticipation.
- August 2022 saw a surge in high-profile Steam launches, led by Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered with 60,000 concurrent users (CCU) and Cult of the Lamb, which outperformed expectations with over 61,700 CCU.
- Niche and Early Access titles maintained strong market presence, with Farthest Frontier reaching nearly 20,000 CCU and Two Point Campus securing 7,400 CCU despite the crowded release window.
- Free-to-play titles MultiVersus and Rumbleverse emerged as the dominant forces within the console digital store ecosystem.
Plus: Dinkum, PowerWash Simulator 1.0 Lead Steam Debuts for Week
This analysis examines the state of the global video game market for the week of July 11, 2022, focusing primarily on Steam performance while providing secondary insights into console and VR platforms.
- Stray is the most-wishlisted unreleased game on Steam with over 152,000 followers, currently leading the global sellers list based exclusively on pre-orders.
- PowerWash Simulator’s transition to version 1.0 significantly increased its market visibility, building on a foundation of approximately 50,000 monthly sales during its Early Access phase.
- Thief Simulator VR achieved a strong Meta Quest debut with an estimated 30,000 units sold during its first week.