Evgeniy Obedkov

Steam vishlist benchmark: what indicators can be considered the norm after the announcement of the game

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Game marketing consultant Chris Zukowski shared data on how many vishlist developers usually receive in the first two weeks after the launch of the game page on Steam. He talked about the averages and explained why low performance at the start does not guarantee failure.A small analysis by Zhukovsky is based on data on 58 games on Steam.

Among them there are projects made by teams of different sizes and with different levels of expertise. According to him, on average, each of these titles received 1008 additions to the wishlist in the first two weeks after the announcement on the Valve platform.

Zhukovsky divided the games into four categories based on the number of vishlists received:

  • weak titles — 25-148 vishlists in the first two weeks;projects with natural visibility — 150-269 vishlists;
  • games that can hook users — 270-965 vishlists;
  • first—class projects – 1000-90 000 vishlists.
  • When you launch your “coming soon” steam page you seem to get some free visibility and wishlists.

Among the possible options are weak graphics or the choice of a genre that is not popular on Steam.

“It is important: poor performance in the first two weeks is not a death sentence. You can improve your game. Steam algorithms do not punish you and do not hide your project based on the indicators for the first two weeks. One game from my list achieved incredible sales, but at the start it received only 54 vishlists,” Zhukovsky noted.

He stressed that poor indicators only indicate that some elements of the game simply do not resonate with the target audience. You can try to work on the visual part, change the genre or the main message of the title.

Projects that receive 150-269 vishlists in the first two weeks can be called average in a good way. They have decent graphics, and the chosen genre is loved by many users. The organic growth of such titles usually remains at the same level until the release.

Games from the third category (up to 1000 vishlists) usually have all the qualities of projects with natural visibility. However, they have a unique “hook” that is able to hook the audience. Such titles may already have their own small fan base at the start, which came after the success of the previous project. “Half of the games in this category are developed by studios that have previously released at least one game on Steam,” Zhukovsky notes.

If we talk about projects from the highest category (from 1000 vishlists), they usually have a viral marketing campaign. Zhukovsky cited the example of the game Wandering Village, the announcement of which was viral on Reddit and brought the authors 10 thousand vishlist in the first two weeks after the announcement.

It’s like going to the doctor and finding out that your blood pressure has increased. You may have to fix something, but that doesn’t mean your life is over after that.”

In the end, Zhukovsky noted that a very good conversion of vishlist sales is about 20%. However, in recent years, the average figures are usually kept around 4-8%.

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