Quick and dirty Steam Numbers

An audio version can be found here 👇

If you're a new development studio or even a publisher you may be wondering about some simple yet contrary basics when you're preparing KPI's for your game. Sure you want to make a game, but there's all that pesky stuff to do with actually profiting of it to deal with as well. The below is not meant to be super in-depth it does not offered 100% guarantees but it should serve as a very useful bit of footing for anyone who is struggling to know where to start with how game launches will fair on Steam.

Yes this is Steam again not consoles or mobile. Sorry.

What is the preferred number of wishlists I should hit from the moment my store page is live to the world?

That'd be 10k ideally, the quick you hit that number the quicker Steam cares about you

Ok what period of time is the most important window for when my game launches?

The first 24hrs is crucial and it bleeds into 48hrs. Make sure you launch with a sale and choose a number that allows you to graduate fair discount prices that won't peeve followers for future sales.

What would be the best launch discount then?

10% is a good launch discount

Why didn't you say that above?

I'm trying to fill up space here calm down

What's the conversion rate of wishlists?

There's never a consistent guarantee but you're looking at a ballpark of 10-20% conversion in the first week of sales.

I have to figure out what a year of sales would be how do I do that?

That depends on what you're pricing the game at and if you mean net. If you sell your game on Steam it takes 30% off total figures. But for a general figure Week 1 sales x 5 = 1st year sales guesstimation.

KPI benchmarks, how do I and why?

KPI's help you set your expectations and plans, they also allow you to gauge when to pivot if current strategies are simply not hitting the mark. There's no exact science and it's dependent on your own financials and budgets. But for the sake of being quick n durty:

Create low - mid - high expectation tiers for yourself. For example:

Low end: 24hrs we hope to make 10k sales - 1 week 25k sales - 4 weeks 50k sales

High end: 24hrs 50k - 1 week 80k - 4 weeks 130k

Is that 10k units or money?

Yes.

But...?

It can be either or but for the purpose of the above example it's units

Why wouldn't you say that...?

That's all for this weeks post thanks God bless, good luck with your game sales and bye!