LogInChris Zukowski from HowToMarketAGame.com has shared five essential tips to help your indie game stand out in Steam's crowded marketplace.
Making a game is hard. Getting anyone to care might be harder.
That's why Unity launched the Indie Survival Guide – an evolving archive of Q&As, VODs, and live streams from developers and industry folks. There’s no guaranteed playbook for success, but hearing how others navigated design, business, and getting by can give you better odds.
In a recent stream, we sat down with Chris Zukowski from HowToMarketAGame.com, who shared honest, actionable advice on standing out in a crowded Steam marketplace.
Here are the highlights from our conversation:
1. Optimize Your Steam Page
A good Steam page should make the type of game obvious and show it’s worth a player’s time. As Chris puts it:
“You wanna make your Steam page look like your type of game so that at an instant somebody shopping goes, ‘Ah, it's that type of game—I’m gonna buy it.’”
You only have a few seconds to hook someone skimming the store. Use every advantage.
2. Choose the Right Genre
Your biggest marketing decision might happen before you write a single line of code:
“Most of the games that do very well are genres that people don’t typically make. The big one is horror. The other ones I call crafty building strategy simulation-y games… It’s not like a linear story where you’re a dude with a sword and you run through an environment.”
3. Avoid Common Steam Mistakes
A common pitfall? Not treating your Steam page like a proper launch:
“You launch your game and… you didn’t push the ‘email wishlisters’ button? That’s a big one… You have two weeks from when you launch your demo to push this button called ‘email wishlisters’… do not forget.”
“Another stupid thing—check your tags. I’ve seen people who have like 10 tags. No—you wanna get all the tags.”
4. Prepare for Steam Next Fest
Chris stresses the importance of showing up to Steam Next Fest ready — your demo should be live well before the event:
“If you’re coming into Next Fest hot with more wishlists, you will do better. That’s why you want to get that demo out early and build some momentum before the fest begins.”
5. Supplement Your Steam Page
Visibility doesn’t have to cost much:
“The only thing I really recommend spending money on is hiring a capsule artist. Other than that, most of this is free and DIY.”
Final Thoughts
There’s no magic formula, but clarity, timing, and genre fit go a long way. Marketing isn’t just shouting on social media — it’s about making the right game for the platform, showing it clearly, and getting demos in front of players early.
You can follow more of Chris’s work at HowToMarketAGame.com, or dive deeper into the Indie Survival Guide for more hard-earned advice from devs who've been there.