How many wishlists game gets in first two weeks on Steam should be considered normal
Game marketing consultant Chris Zukowski has shared data on wishlists developers usually get in the first two weeks since launching their Steam page. He explained what numbers should be considered normal, and why poor performance is not always a death sentence.
Zukowski’s analysis is based on data from 58 games of different team sizes, scopes, and experience levels. He looked at the number of wishlists they got in the first two weeks since launching in the “Coming soon” section on Steam and broke down the data into four tiers: underperforming (25-148 wishlists), natural visibility (150-269), great hook / great marketing (270-965), and top tier (1000-90,000).
When you launch your “coming soon” steam page you seem to get some free visibility and wishlists. But how many WL are normal? What is bad performance? What is super good? Lets examine this in this thread so you can compare your game 🧵🧵👇👇 pic.twitter.com/ptjUEGNIR6
— Chris (@AdventureMtn) December 15, 2021
Games from the underperforming tier usually have issues with graphics or they just might be made in a genre that is not popular on Steam. Zukowski notes that the low numbers is not a death sentence, it only means that developers should make some changes to their project to connect with the audience better.
IMPORTANT: Poor initial 2 week performance is not a death sentence. You can improve. The Steam algorithm does not “penalize” or “hide” you if your first 2 weeks are lack-luster. One game in my survey went on to stellar sales but 2-week-WL count was just 54.
— Chris (@AdventureMtn) December 15, 2021
Titles that reach “natural visibility” are good-looking decent projects, and the number of wishlists will probably continue to grow at the same rate.
Games that get between 270 and 965 wishlists in the first two weeks usually have a unique and appealing feature, which can hook players. These titles can also be developed by teams with the existing player base, which came from their previous games.
When it comes to top-tier games in terms of 2-weeks wishlists, they all usually have a viral marketing campaign behind them. Zukowski cited Wandering Village, which got 10,000 wishlists in two weeks after going viral on Reddit, and Choo Choo Charles as examples.
Another🤑Top tier was @TwoStarGames‘s Choo Choo Charles that had a viral twitter, reddit, trailer post. Basically everything was viral with this game: https://t.co/BXtQvSFRxp
— Chris (@AdventureMtn) December 15, 2021
Although some small developers might think that poor wishlists performance will put their ambitious journey to an end, Zukowski notes that he only provides a benchmark for people to measure their projects against. “It’s like going to the doctor and learning your blood pressure is a bit high – you might have to make some changes but doesn’t mean your life is over,” he concluded.
