Tag: Marketing

Or, “I’ve sent too many emails the past 2 weeks and need a break”.

Getting streamers & press to play your game can be a really fun albeit nerve-wracking experience. It’s more personal than just asking players to try out your game on social media–you’re asking a stranger to not only play your game but give it a review, opening yourself up to that vulnerability. But it can also be a rewarding experience, to see people enjoy your game live and connect with it.

A lot of streamers find games organically, by seeing what other streamers are playing and what their friends have told them about and what they see on social media. But streamers also take suggestions for games occasionally, especially if you’re the developer of the game. So how do you reach out to streamers?

It started in December. Women Led Games x The Game Awards was wrapping up and The Storyteller’s Festival was sending out acceptances. Valve was making it increasingly clear that festivals were the way of their future, with an update on how developers could run their own events.

We believe that when they’re well run and well implemented, third-party sales events can accomplish several important goals at once. They make the Store a livelier and more-engaging place for players, they help developers find new audiences for their games, and they help event organizers connect with the Steam-portion of their online communities.

All in all, we’re happy to see third-party sales events gaining popularity on Steam. Since the sales event tools were first introduced to partners in 2020, almost 3,000 sales events have been released on Steam, with the total number in 2024 on pace to grow 20% relative to 2023.

Steamworks Development News

Having been in quite a few developer & Valve-ran festivals, I realized it was time for me to try my hand at it. I’ve hosted game jams for years such as Otome Jam, so I’m no stranger to running developer events. So how hard would running a Steam festival be?