Note From The Editor
And then there were 12. Hi folks. Thank you for letting me bypass your spam filters and making this newsletter man feel like this aggregation of knowledge is helping you keep one single source of truth, when you’re on your journey to launching your game. I’m working on multiple games right now, my studio is making a AA RPG, a Fortnite creator game for Sony Music (unannounced) and my own personal project, a silly card-based rogue like with a funny theme and consulting (PR/Marketing/BD). Time is my #1 currency and if you too are balancing your day job, your family life (focus on family first always) and your game, you’ll feel the pinch somewhere and you’'ll need to make compromises to avoid burnout. The idea of the obsessed artist is cliche and detrimental to the experiences that fuel your inspiration and offer you the mental and economical stability to MAKE THE THING.
Free Marketing (That’s not free)
Making Great Store Assets
Emailing press and influencers
Writing posts on Reddit
Submitting for Showcases, IRL events and Awards
Posting to socials every day
Talking to players every day
Handling player feedback every day
Pushing Updates, patches and new content
Wishlist Growers
Boosting Steam reviews post-release leads to increased conversion rates, says Gamesight
Games marketing firm Gamesight published the statistic in its latest Performance Marketing Playbook, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz. Gamesight charted the conversion rates of 30 premium games against their respective Steam review scores, showing that every game with a conversion rate over 2% boasted a Steam review rating over 80% positive.
The report also included a case study that followed a single unnamed game's 21-month marketing campaign, charting the campaign's success against its review score at the time. The game generally saw a higher conversion rate when its review score was higher, with the conversion rate peaking at over 7% when the game briefly achieved a rating of "Overwhelmingly Positive."
"Both from this analysis and our experience working with game developers, we consistently see things like game patches, bug fixes, and adding player-requested features tend to be at the center of these sentiment improvements," Gamesight data analyst Marlie Tandoc said.
Gamesight says it saw similar patterns in other games it studied, while the firm also identified how studios could improve their review scores. The case study game also follows this trend, with its Overwhelmingly Positive spike occurring when the developer added a feature that had been highly requested by players. This is hard for solo and indie dev teams but even little things can make a difference and don’t forget to ask your players to review your game to support the studio.
Final Thought
A lot of this insight is particularly focused around a AAA launch but there are some valuable nuggets for us in there too. Be player-focused, wishlist to conversion ratio for AAA games is lower than indies but we can take these lessons and use them.
The Launch Road Map
Chris Z dropped another free banger on his newsletter regarding the benchmarks for your ramp up to launch.
I found Chris’ benchmark roadmap comforting. Not just because one of my games is a gold, but because he’s done a fantastic job of showing the major beats and mapping them to wishlists. Don’t be overconfident or discouraged though, because conversion rates of wishlists to sales can wildly vary and one breakthrough moment like an influencer falling in love with your game can change your fortune.
From the newsletter: How To Market A Game (LINKED ABOVE)
Reddit Round Up
Shout out to fellow Redditor: PersonOfInterest007 for essentially doing the round up today. Here’s a summary of the best stuffs and you can seek week over week we are seeing the same themes so going back to our theme of time being our currency - get theses right first.
Hook players instantly — gameplay should start within the first 2–3 seconds; avoid long intros, logos, or cinematics that delay the player experience.
Start marketing early — don’t wait until the game is “done”; building awareness during development helps build momentum.
Build community first — set up places like Discord, Reddit, or socials where fans can gather, give feedback, and spread the word.
Get a demo in front of people — demos at festivals or for content creators generate wishlists and press opportunities.
Reach out to content creators personally — send free keys with tailored messages to streamers and YouTubers who align with your genre.
Use social media smartly — prioritize short, engaging media (clips, screenshots) tied to game features or progress updates instead of wall-of-text posts.
Optimize store presence early — polished capsule art, strong tags, and clear descriptions improve discoverability and clicks.
Don’t market just to developers — focus promotions on players who would actually play or buy your game.
Treat wishlists as a metric — early wishlist velocity matters for algorithmic visibility and launch success.
Here is the link referenced and used for this week’s newsletter analysis:
Trends
GameDev Reports/Ampere Analysis are say that Single Player games are back:
The company surveyed 34,000 players across 22 countries in Q2’25
56% of players prefer single-player games over multiplayer ones.
Over the past four years, this share has increased by 4%.
55% of men and 58% of women said they prefer single-player games.
49% of players aged 16 to 24 prefer single-player games. In the 25 to 34 age group, this share rises to 56%.
More than half of the students surveyed said platforms like TikTok and Instagram were their primary way to learn about new brands.
40% said they now use social platforms like TikTok or Instagram as search engines. These students prefer short-form videos (TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts) for branded content because these videos feel more authentic to them than a standard polished ad.
Micro-influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers) resonate with 73% of Gen Z participants, and 61% to 70% of students said they expect to see user-generated content, such as student-led reviews, before making a purchase.
51.1% said social media is the primary way they stay updated with their favorite brands. These students want instant brand interactions. They cited push notifications, real-time customer support, and text blasts as their top preferences for interacting with brands. This data shows how Gen Z customers expect a level of convenience and speed.
Competitive Research
Upcoming Events and Opportunities
Festivals, showcases, influencer and media showcases and their submission windows. Also there is still time to sign-up to get free passes to GDC thanks to Xsolla: https://events.xsolla.com/GDCscholarship2026
Steam Next Fest (Feb / Jun / Oct)
One of the strongest wishlist drivers if you have a demo ready.Steam Genre & Theme Fests
Smaller, more targeted, and often overlooked—but great for niche games.GDC (March)
Less about players, more about long-term relationships, publishers, and press.Day of the Devs (March)
The Mix (March)
IndieCade Festival (May)
PitchYaGame (#PitchYaGame) A biannual social-media indie showcase on Twitter/X where developers pitch their games using #PitchYaGame. (June)
Summer Game Fest / Digital Showcases (June)
High noise, but useful if you have a strong visual hook.PC Gaming Show (PC Gamer / Future) — big PC-first showcase that heavily features indies.
Future Games Show (GamesRadar / Future) — large multi-platform showcase (often indie-heavy).
Shacknews E4 Indie Showcase (Shacknews) — indie-only showcase timed around “Not-E3/SGF” season.
Nintendo Indie World Showcase (Nintendo editorial/publishing) — platform-holder showcase, but explicitly indie-only.
OTK Games Expo (OTK creators) — streamer network showcase with a strong indie focus.
New Game Plus Showcase (content creators) — newly launched creator-led showcase (notably “no paid placements” positioning).
Indie Quest (JRPG creator-led) — creator-led showcase focused on indie JRPGs.
Six One Indie Showcase (community/creator-run) — indie showcase brand built to spotlight smaller teams.
Links To Remember
All the best links that usually disappear into the Reddit ether only to be reposted by the most diligent Redditors and game development and marketing gurus. Link to the website archive of these great resources (GDMR)
Tip Line: Got Ideas, Insights, or Opportunities?
Have a win, a learning, a question, or an opportunity worth sharing? Send it in. If it helps the community, we’ll surface it with credit.