Play Together
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Article
How 'Hook' Made With You Stand Out as a Free Steam Game
Carol Mertz's free two-player co-op puzzle game With You, originally an NYU MFA project, offers a case study in how a short, non-commercial Steam release can go viral in early 2022.
- Steam’s algorithm-driven discovery allows for significant organic reach, as evidenced by the free title 'With You' achieving 97,000 library additions and 49,000 unique players within two weeks of release.
- Strategic platform features, such as Steam's 'Remote Play Together,' can be the primary driver for success in non-commercial projects by filling specific voids like accessible, non-violent cooperative play.
- Mobile game marketing relies heavily on paid user acquisition, with Embracer Group data showing that 57% of mobile net sales are reinvested into marketing, contrasting sharply with Steam’s organic discovery model.
GameDiscoverCoFeb 2022
Article
How Do You Fund That Game Prototype?
Early-stage prototype funding is the hardest and least discussed hurdle in game development, and this March 2021 newsletter examines how developers actually bootstrap their first playable builds before any publisher or investor money arrives.
- Securing early-stage funding for prototypes or vertical slices is the primary barrier for independent developers, as publisher-funded prototypes have become increasingly rare.
- Successful studios frequently rely on bootstrapping through a combination of personal savings, secondary employment, and contract work to sustain development.
- Developers often fund original projects by performing freelance consulting or white-label development for other agencies.
GameDiscoverCoMar 2021
Article
10 Easy Tips to Get Your Game Ready for the Summer Sale
Steam's Summer and Winter sales drive the most post-launch purchases, and developers whose store pages have gone stale risk looking like a "dead game" to shoppers arriving from wishlist-sale emails.
- Optimize your Steam store page tags to be specific and accurate, as these are the primary mechanism for the Steam algorithm to categorize your game and display it in 'more like this' sections.
- Ensure your first four screenshots are diverse and informative, as these images appear in the hover tooltip that shoppers use to evaluate your game before clicking through to your page.
- Prioritize gameplay in your store trailer by removing logos, cinematics, and slow establishing shots, as Steam shoppers want to see immediate evidence of how the game plays.
How To Market A GameMay 2020