Discovery
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Documents about Discovery
What I Learned in 2023
This analysis synthesizes key insights from the 2023 Steam marketplace landscape, focusing on indie developer strategies, platform algorithms, and market expectations.
- Steam's algorithm prioritizes actual revenue as the primary signal for visibility, but wishlists remain the essential secondary metric for pre-launch momentum and discovery.
- Indie developers should avoid multi-year projects for their first release, instead focusing on 'middle' games that take 1–3 months to develop and target a realistic revenue goal of $10,000.
- Early Access is a full launch, not a testing phase; data shows that if an Early Access launch performs poorly, there is less than a 2% chance of achieving a successful 1.0 release.
How Localization Affects Game Discovery
Localization serves as a critical driver for game discovery and sales on global platforms like Steam.
- Localization is a primary driver of algorithmic discovery on platforms like Steam, as the absence of native language support significantly reduces wishlisting rates in markets with lower English proficiency.
- Failing to provide Chinese localization can result in the loss of over 90% of potential players in that market, as evidenced by the negligible sales of English-only titles compared to localized ones.
- Linguistic flexibility varies drastically by region; while 61-66% of German and Brazilian players are willing to engage with English, only 22-23% of Korean and Japanese players share that willingness.
Why Am I Not Getting Wishlists? A Step by Step Solution
The primary objective is to diagnose why independent games on Steam fail to generate significant wishlists and to provide actionable strategies for developers to trigger the platform's discovery algorithm.
- Steam’s algorithm requires a significant influx of traffic to prove a game is not a low-effort asset flip, typically necessitating over 1,000 wishlists in a single week to trigger meaningful Discovery Queue visibility.
- Most successful games fall into one of two categories: 'social-media friendly' games that go viral through organic content, or 'demo-friendly' games that gain traction through streamer coverage and festival features.
- If a game fails to generate at least 1,000 wishlists from a month of intensive social media promotion, it is likely not 'social-media friendly' and developers should pivot to demo-based marketing strategies.
What Does It Take to Get in the Discovery Queue?
The Discovery Queue serves as a critical mechanism for indie game visibility on Steam, acting as an algorithmic signal that identifies high-potential titles to broader audiences.
- The Steam Discovery Queue (DQ) is primarily triggered by significant spikes in external traffic, which the algorithm interprets as a signal of high potential popularity.
- To trigger a pre-release DQ spike, games typically need to generate between 1,500 and 4,000 wishlists within a seven-day period.
- Most games that successfully trigger the DQ receive approximately 10,000 visits in the week leading up to the spike, with a median of 11,202 visits observed in the survey.
Don't Scream: Jumpscaring a Giant Hook to 100k Sales in 2 Weeks
The horror title Don’t Scream serves as a primary case study for the power of a strong gameplay "hook" in the modern PC gaming market.
- The horror title 'Don't Scream' achieved 100,000 sales in two weeks with a zero-dollar marketing budget by leveraging a unique microphone-based gameplay hook that drove viral influencer engagement.
- Despite high organic discovery and 130,000 wishlists, the game suffered a 29.1% refund rate, resulting in a 46% net-to-gross ratio that falls below the 58% industry standard.
- Sony has halved its planned live-service game launches from twelve to six by fiscal year 2025, signaling a strategic pivot toward quality and sustainability over market saturation.
Enthusiast Gaming and Metavision Collaborate with Netflix to Launch ONE PIECE Fortnite Content
Enthusiast Gaming and Metavision have partnered with Netflix to launch a promotional experience within Fortnite Creative, marking a significant milestone as the first instance of a streaming service utilizing the platform to deliver branded gaming content.
- Enthusiast Gaming and Metavision collaborated with Netflix to launch a custom Fortnite Creative experience promoting the live-action adaptation of the ONE PIECE manga series.
- This project marks the first instance of a streaming service utilizing the Fortnite Creative platform to deliver a promotional gaming experience to its audience.
- The custom map, designed by 3D Lab using the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), features a ship-to-ship combat mode between the Straw Hats and the Marines.
What Is the Discovery Queue?
The Discovery Queue serves as a critical, high-traffic visibility tool on the Steam platform, functioning as a primary driver of organic discovery for both established and emerging titles.
- The Discovery Queue is a critical Steam traffic source, often ranking as the second or third largest driver of page visits for top-selling games.
- Steam's algorithm prioritizes games in the Discovery Queue based on external traffic and wishlist velocity, which serve as proof that a game is worth promoting to a wider audience.
- Internal Steam events like Next Fest are generally insufficient to trigger the Discovery Queue because Valve filters out internal traffic to avoid feedback loops and requires external validation.
In-depth: A Discovery Playbook for Steam & Console Games
This strategic analysis provides a comprehensive discovery playbook for PC and console game developers, emphasizing that modern success is driven by inherent game "hooks" and genre selection rather than traditional marketing muscle.
- Steam should be the primary lead platform for most developers, as individual console sales rarely outperform Steam performance for the majority of titles.
- Marketing campaigns require a long-lead strategy of at least six months, with an ideal window of 12 to 18 months to build sufficient momentum.
- Games in the $20–$30 price bracket perform best when they feature 'deep' genres characterized by high replayability and systemic complexity.
François Ribeiro Leads European Division of Infinite Reality
Infinite Reality, the parent company of the London Royal Ravens and KOI, has appointed François Ribeiro as the CEO of its European division.
- Infinite Reality, owner of the London Royal Ravens and KOI, has appointed François Ribeiro as the CEO of its European division.
- Ribeiro brings over two decades of executive experience in sports and entertainment to the metaverse, Web3, and content company.
- Prior to this appointment, Ribeiro spent more than nine years at Discovery, serving as head of Eurosport events and SVP of Discovery Sports.
Multiplayer Game Discovery & The Cold Start Problem
The core challenge for multiplayer PC and console games is achieving "escape velocity" through the establishment of an atomic network.
- Multiplayer games on PC and console typically retain only 6% of their peak launch concurrent user count, with even high-performing titles rarely exceeding 20%.
- Competitive PvP titles face higher launch risks than cooperative games because they require significantly larger atomic networks to maintain matchmaking quality and low latency.
- Developers should prioritize online co-op over versus modes to mitigate the high CCU tipping points and network-effect barriers inherent in competitive multiplayer.
Hogwarts Legacy Hits $1 Billion in Retail Sales: Nearly 10% of WB Discovery’s Quarterly Revenue
The financial performance of Hogwarts Legacy, developed by Avalanche Software, represents a significant milestone for Warner Bros. Discovery.
- Hogwarts Legacy generated over $1 billion in retail sales by March 31, 2023, following its February launch.
- The title accounted for approximately 9.3% of Warner Bros. Discovery’s $10.7 billion total revenue in Q1 2023.
- The game reached 15 million units sold globally within its first few months of release.
Hogwarts Legacy Has Topped 15 Million Sales and Grossed Over $1 Billion
Hogwarts Legacy has achieved significant commercial success, surpassing 15 million units sold and generating over $1 billion in global retail revenue as of March 31, 2023. These figures, disclosed by Warner Bros.
- Hogwarts Legacy surpassed 15 million sales and generated over $1 billion in revenue by March 31, 2023.
- The game achieved this milestone within the first quarter of 2023, as announced in Warner Bros. Discovery's Q1 earnings results.
- Hogwarts Legacy is Warner Bros. Discovery's fifth gaming franchise to exceed $1 billion, joining Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Lego games, and DC.