Are in search of to know basically one of the most practical manner to get consideration on Steam? Add a demo.

2023 brought some unease to Steam. The leading PC gaming marketplace experienced a significant decline in revenue from newly released games, prompting Valve to invest considerable resources into new features designed to enhance engagement and boost sales on the platform.

Their main focus? Encouraging developers to create demos and showcasing these demos to as many gamers as possible.

“In 2023, Valve actually earned less from new titles; it was a downturn,” stated gaming marketing strategist Chris Zukowski. “Throughout 2024, they were rolling out features, believing they needed to address the challenge. They inundated the store with features all centered around demos. Valve was essentially communicating, in a not-so-subtle way, that everyone needs to produce a demo.”

Everything is demo focused

Zukowski delivered a presentation on navigating these new Steam features at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. We had a conversation with him afterward to delve deeper into the topic. The essential point of this emphasis is that demos are crucial for gaining visibility on Steam. According to Zukowski, excitement for your game is more likely to achieve greater visibility if you allow streamers a chance to play it.

“For most games, social media channels don’t yield effective results,” Zukowski explained. “The reason is that streamers can actually play a demo. Streamers can’t work with just a screenshot. They need the demo, and when they stream it, they attract their audience.”

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While the majority of the focus was on demos, Zukowski also elaborated on additional strategies developers can implement to gain exposure for their demo and game. This includes launching a website, building an audience, and running a playtest to generate interest. Developers only have one opportunity to release a demo and make a lasting impression, and a playtest can help them “smooth out the bumps,” according to Zukowski. He estimated, based on extensive data, that around 100 concurrent players may be the threshold for being discovered by the algorithm.

“The key takeaway is that a demo launch is now featured on the front page,” Zukowski noted. “It’s significant, but you need an existing audience, and you have to have enough players engaging with your demo simultaneously for the Steam algorithm to position you on the front page.”

Zukowski insisted that you cannot simply create a game page on Steam, launch a demo, and then expect success. It’s not straightforward for developers to gain visibility in a market inundated with hundreds of new games released annually.

“The playtest is like priming the pump,” Zukowski remarked. “It’s about getting the pump functioning.”

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Zukowski highlighted multiple case studies of games that utilized this strategy over the past year. Some had remained nearly inactive for months, even years, before conducting a playtest and subsequently launching a demo. Following these actions, the wishlist numbers for these games skyrocketed.

A common belief is to launch demos close to a game’s release so that players can experience the gameplay and keep it in mind when the full game launches. Zukowski counters this idea, explaining that momentum isn’t as impactful for smaller game releases. These games are often so limited that a significant influx of players, especially well ahead of release, is beneficial compared to trying to orchestrate some form of curated event around the launch.

The good, the bad, and the AI mess

One point raised during Steam Next Fest was that these new demo and discovery features have tremendously benefited virtually every game that adopted the strategy on Steam, including those some journalists labeled as “AI mess.”

“On the first day of Next Fest, everyone receives a certain amount of impressions,” Zukowski noted, adding that wishlist numbers will influence the amount of impressions a game receives initially. On the second day, Zukowski noted that Steam had granted visibility to all, including games many deemed of low quality. “That’s Steam giving everyone a chance for visibility.”

Steam’s algorithm subsequently rewards notable games with more prominence based on impressions and various statistics. Games that fail to gain traction…