Trying to figure out the release date for no signal and the timeline leading up to the event.
Constraints:
- Soundtrack needs 3-5 days for review
- Game needs 3-5 days for review
- Offkai June 20-22
- Open Sauce July 19-20
- Steam does not allow releases on weekends
- The release date cannot be changed within the 2 weeks before the release date
Notable sales/releases:
- Steam Summer Sale June 26-July 10
- Releasing during a sale is not recommended
- Point & Click tag on Steam: June 11, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 26, 30; July 15, 17
- Adventure tag on Steam: June 11, 12, 13, 15-20, 23, 24, 26, 27; July 1, 6, 11, 15-18, 23-25, 28
- Hidden Object tag on Steam: June 16, 19, 22, 30; July 24
Maybe July 11? There’s not that many planned releases that day, and it’s right after the Steam Summer Sale. Looking into how the proximity of a launch date to big sales and steam next fest affects game sales, it appears to not really matter all that much:
In general, the success of your launch is determined by the amount of wishlists you build up in the months and months and months leading up to your launch. NOT the one week before. So I think that is reassuring? Maybe? Your sales cake is already baked by the time you get to the 1 month before your launch. So don’t freak out is what I am trying to say.
Pleasing the Steam algorithm is the most important thing. Just because your individual game has some recent momentum does not influence the algorithm. At launch the most important factors are that you have enough wishlists to appear in Popular Upcoming and then sell enough to appear in New & Trending. Launching in SNF means you are competing with more people who also have similar hype.
So, July 11th makes sense for me because it gives me about a month to drum up a little bit of anticipation for the game before release as well as time to package the game up for Steam. That gives me until June 27th to back out, if I need to. That’s 17 days from now.
One friend said that it can take press about 2-4 weeks to play a game and write an article about it. Though the timeline can vary a lot and it is entirely up to them. For example, if I catch press at a time that isn’t very busy I can get printed very quickly.
It sounds like the 25th would be a better date. Plus, the Steam Summer Sale right before the 11th means that i’ll have more trouble getting word out about my game at that time.
I started to ask my friends for help finding press contacts. I got the following information/contacts: