How Do You Build Hype Before Your Game Launches?

Overview

  • Video game companies today recognize that pre-launch marketing is essential for success. Gaming firms that start engaging their target audiences early – building communities, driving wishlists, and sharing compelling content – leverage emerging gaming trends to boost visibility and launch momentum.

  • Effective pre-launch marketing combines tactical use of platform tools like Steam wishlists, social media engagement, and influencer outreach. By aligning these efforts with your game genre and audience preferences, developers create sustained hype that translates into stronger launch impact and long-term player retention.

Introduction

Launching a game without pre-launch marketing is like opening a restaurant in a deserted alley and wondering why nobody shows up. The harsh reality of modern game development is that building a great game is only half the battle – the other half is ensuring people know it exists before launch day arrives. 

Pre-launch marketing isn’t optional anymore, and it doesn’t begin a week before release. Successful games build anticipation months or even years in advance, cultivating communities that eagerly await launch day. The developers who understand this create momentum that carries their games to success, while those who neglect it watch their projects disappear into obscurity despite quality gameplay.

Whether you’re an indie solo developer or part of a studio, strategic pre-launch marketing maximizes your chances of being discovered, wishlisted, and ultimately purchased when your game finally arrives.

When to Start Marketing

The ideal time to begin marketing is earlier than most developers think, but not so early that you’re showing unfinished work that misrepresents your vision:

Too Early: Starting before you have a clear identity, playable prototype, or confident direction risks building hype around a concept that changes dramatically during development. Showing rough placeholder content can create negative first impressions that are hard to overcome.

Too Late: Waiting until your game is nearly complete means launch arrives before you’ve built meaningful awareness or community. You enter the market cold with no momentum, wasting the launch visibility window.

Sweet Spot: Begin marketing once you have a vertical slice or polished demo that accurately represents your final vision. This typically occurs during mid-production when core game mechanics are solid, art style is established, and you’re confident the game will ship in recognizable form. For most projects, this means starting marketing six months to two years before launch, depending on your game’s scale and development timeline.

Building Your Foundation

Before executing marketing tactics, establish the foundational elements that make marketing effective:

1. Define Your Target Audience

Attempting to market to everyone who likes games guarantees failure. Successful marketing targets specific audiences with precision:

  • Identify your core players: Who will love your game most? Fans of specific game genres or players who enjoyed similar titles, communities around particular play styles or themes.

  • Understand where they gather: Which subreddits, Discord servers, YouTube channels, Twitch streamers, or forums do they frequent? Marketing means going where your audience already exists, not hoping they find you.

  • Learn their language & preferences: What content formats do they engage with? What motivates their purchase decisions? What game types and genres do they already love, and why?

2. Craft Your Core Message

Your game needs a clear, compelling pitch that communicates what makes it special in one or two sentences. This elevator pitch should answer: What is your game? What makes it unique? Why should players care?

Weak pitch: 

“A fun action RPG with cool characters.” 

Strong pitch: 

“A time-loop action RPG where every death rewinds the timeline, letting you use knowledge from previous lives to change the story’s outcome.“

The strong pitch communicates game genre, unique game mechanics, and value proposition immediately. Test your pitch on people unfamiliar with your game – if they can’t repeat back what makes it interesting, refine until the message lands clearly.

3. Establish Your Online Presence

Create the digital homes where your community will gather and where interested players can learn more about your game:

  • Steam/Platform Pages: Set up your store page as early as platforms allow (Steam permits pages in development). This enables wishlist collection months before launch, and wishlists directly impact algorithm visibility.

  • Official Website: A simple website with screenshots, a trailer, key features, and links to social media and store pages serves as your central information hub. 

  • Social Media Accounts: Choose platforms where your target audience lives rather than trying to maintain a presence everywhere. Twitter and Discord work well for most games, while TikTok suits games with strong visual hooks and younger audiences.

  • Discord Server: Create a community space where interested players can discuss your game, provide feedback, and feel connected to development. Active Discord communities become your most passionate advocates.

4. Development Updates & Behind-the-Scenes

Players enjoy watching games evolve from concept to completion. Sharing development progress humanizes your project and makes followers feel invested in your journey:

  • Weekly or bi-weekly progress updates: Share what you’ve been working on – new game mechanics implemented, art assets completed, or game design challenges solved. This maintains visibility without overwhelming followers.

  • Technical deep-dives: Developers and hardcore players appreciate learning how specific systems work, what technical challenges you’ve overcome, or why you made particular game design decisions.

  • Art & asset showcases: Concept art evolution, game character design iterations, environment breakdowns, and 2D or 3D animation processes give visual insight into your creative process.

  • Honest challenges & solutions: Sharing difficulties you’ve encountered and how you solved them builds authenticity. Players appreciate honesty over perfect marketing facades.

5. Gameplay Reveals & Trailers

Visual content demonstrating actual gameplay is your most powerful marketing tool because it shows rather than tells what your game offers:

  • Announcement trailer: Your first public reveal should communicate the game genre, art style, core game mechanics, and unique selling points in 60-90 seconds. This trailer’s job is generating initial interest and wishlists.

  • Gameplay footage: Regular short clips showing specific game mechanics, combat encounters, puzzle solutions, or exploration moments keep your game visible between major announcements. These work excellently on Twitter and Reddit.

  • Feature showcase videos: Dedicated videos explaining specific systems, such as combat game mechanics, progression systems, crafting, or unique features, educate players about the depth and complexity they’ll enjoy.

  • Release date trailer: Once you’ve locked your launch date, create a trailer specifically announcing it. This converts ambient interest into committed wishlists as players mark calendars.

6. Community Engagement Content

Marketing isn’t one-way broadcasting – it’s building relationships with your future players through authentic engagement:

  • Ask for feedback: Share game design dilemmas and genuinely consider community input. Players who feel heard become invested advocates rather than passive consumers.

  • Polls & questions: Simple engagement like “Which game character design do you prefer?” or “What feature are you most excited about?” keeps followers involved and provides valuable insight.

  • User-generated content opportunities: If applicable, share fan art, encourage screenshot sharing from demos, or feature community creations. This turns your audience into co-marketers.

  • AMA sessions & developer Q&As: Regular opportunities for direct developer interaction build personal connections and demonstrate you value your community.

Leveraging Key Platforms & Channels

Different platforms serve different purposes in your marketing strategy. Understanding where and how to invest effort maximizes impact:

1. Steam Wishlists & Platform Visibility

Steam’s algorithm heavily weights wishlists when determining visibility for new releases. More wishlists mean better placement in recommendation algorithms, discovery queues, and featured lists at launch:

  • Optimize your Steam page early: High-quality screenshots, a compelling trailer, clear feature descriptions, and accurate tagging help convert visitors to wishlists.

  • Include “Wishlist Now” calls-to-action: Every social post, trailer, and marketing material should direct people to add your game to wishlists. Make it friction-free.

  • Participate in Steam events: Next Fest, seasonal sales featuring coming-soon games, and themed events provide visibility boosts. Submit demos when eligible.

  • Monitor & iterate: Steam provides analytics showing how visitors find your page and what percentage wishlist. Use this data to refine your messaging and targeting.

2. Social Media Strategy

Social media builds ongoing relationships and maintains visibility between major announcements, but requires understanding each platform’s unique culture and algorithms:

  • Twitter/X for the gamedev community: The game development community lives on Twitter. Regular updates, GIF demonstrations of game mechanics, and engagement with other developers keep your game visible. Use relevant hashtags like #indiedev, #gamedev, and game genre-specific tags.

  • Reddit for targeted communities: Identify subreddits where your target audience gathers – game genre-specific communities, indie game forums, and gaming discussion boards. Authentic participation (not just self-promotion) builds credibility before sharing your game.

  • TikTok for viral potential: Games with strong visual hooks, satisfying gameplay loops, or humorous elements can go viral on TikTok. Short, punchy videos showcasing cool moments work best. This platform skews younger but offers a massive reach when content resonates.

  • Discord for community building: While not traditional social media, Discord is where communities form around games pre-launch. An active server creates your core fan base, who will advocate for your game at launch.

3. Press & Influencer Outreach

Coverage from the gaming press and content creators exponentially expands your reach beyond your existing following but requires strategic, respectful outreach:

  • Build a press kit: Create a simple webpage with a game description, key features, screenshots, trailers, logos, and developer contact information. Make journalists’ jobs easy by providing everything they need in one place.

  • Target appropriate outlets: Research which sites, YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and journalists cover games like yours. Don’t spam everyone – personalize outreach to people whose audience matches your target players.

  • Pitch at the right time: Reach out with significant news – major reveals, demo releases, or launch announcements. 

  • Offer exclusive previews or demos: Giving select creators early access builds relationships and generates coverage naturally. Choose creators whose audience aligns with your game.

  • Follow up respectfully: One polite follow-up is acceptable if you don’t hear back; multiple follow-ups become spam.
     

4. Game Festivals & Events

Digital and physical gaming events provide concentrated marketing opportunities where audiences are actively seeking new games to discover:

  • Steam Next Fest: The most valuable event for PC indie games. Participating with a polished demo generates massive wishlists if your game resonates.

  • PAX, Gamescom & gaming conventions: If budget allows, showing your game at conventions provides hands-on demos, press coverage, and direct player feedback. These events work best for games with strong visual appeal or immediate gameplay hooks.

  • Digital showcases & streaming events: Events like IGN’s Indie showcase, Day of the Devs, or publisher-run showcases offer trailer visibility to large audiences. Competition is fierce, but acceptance provides legitimacy and reach.

  • Local game development meetups: Smaller community events build local press relationships and provide valuable playtesting feedback without requiring significant investment.

Conclusion

Pre-launch marketing determines whether your game launches to an eager audience or an empty room. The quality of your game matters enormously, but quality without visibility equals commercial failure in today’s saturated market.

Start marketing early enough to build meaningful awareness but late enough that what you show accurately represents your final vision. Build consistently rather than sporadically, maintaining presence in your target audience’s spaces through valuable content and authentic engagement. Cultivate community, not just followers – people who care about your game’s success become your most effective marketers.

Measure everything, iterate on what works, and abandon what doesn’t. Pre-launch marketing isn’t one-size-fits-all; what works for your game depends on the game genre, audience, and platform. Use data to refine your approach rather than blindly following generic advice.

Most importantly, remember that marketing and development aren’t separate endeavors. The best marketing is building a game people genuinely want to play, then ensuring those people know it exists before launch day arrives. Do both well, and you maximize your chances of launch day success rather than becoming another quality game nobody discovered.

FAQs

1. Steam wishlists vs. mobile soft-launch – what’s the difference?

Steam wishlists are a way to gauge interest and build an audience before launch; players add your game to their wishlist and get notified on release. A mobile soft-launch is a limited release in select regions or audiences to test gameplay, monetization, and retention before a full global launch.

2. How do you market a game on Reddit?

Market on Reddit by engaging authentically in relevant subreddits, sharing development updates, gathering feedback, and using Reddit ads targeted to gaming communities. Avoid spamming and focus on building genuine relationships with users.

3. TikTok vs. YouTube vs. Reddit – which converts better for indies?

Conversion varies, but TikTok excels at viral discovery with short, engaging videos; YouTube is great for in-depth content and tutorials; and Reddit works well for community building and feedback. Combining these platforms strategically maximizes reach and conversion.

4. What is a good wishlist-to-sales ratio on Steam?

A general benchmark is around 2-5% of wishlist holders converting to buyers at launch, but this varies by game genre, audience, and marketing. High engagement around launch and good reviews improve this ratio.

5. When is the right time to launch a game demo?

Launch a demo when core gameplay is polished and representative of the final experience, ideally a few months before release to generate buzz and collect player feedback that can be used for improvements.