Post-Launch Marketing: What to Do After Your Indie Game Ships
Your game launched. The first-week numbers came in. Now sales are dropping, and every day the chart line slopes further down. This is normal. This happens to almost every game on Steam, including the successful ones.
TL;DR: Post-launch marketing is where decent launches become sustainable businesses. Use your five Update Visibility Rounds strategically, follow the discount staircase (20%+ triggers wishlist emails), and treat every major update as a mini-launch. Most successful indie games earn more in their long tail than launch week.
Key Takeaways
- Update Visibility Rounds are limited and powerful. Save them for genuinely significant updates, not bug fixes.
- Discounts of 20% or higher trigger wishlist notification emails. Below 20%, no emails go out.
- Space your visibility rounds 2-3 months apart across your first year to create sustained momentum.
- Every major content update is a marketing opportunity. Update your press kit and reach out to creators.
- The Daily Deal becomes realistic 6-12 months after launch once you've built review count and sales history.
The indie game marketing timeline doesn't end at launch. Beating the first boss doesn't mean the game is over. For many successful indie games, the majority of lifetime revenue comes after the first month. Stardew Valley, Hades, Among Us, Valheim. All of them earned more in their long tail than in their launch window. Post-launch marketing is where you turn a decent launch into a sustainable business.
The Post-Launch Dip Is Not a Crisis
Almost every game experiences a sharp sales decline after the first week. Your daily revenue will drop to a fraction of launch day. This isn't failure. It's the natural curve.
Here's what happens mechanically: on launch day, Steam sends wishlist notification emails to everyone who wishlisted your game. That initial burst of purchases triggers algorithmic visibility (New and Trending, tag-based recommendations, Top Sellers lists). But that algorithmic boost has a half-life. As purchase velocity slows, Steam gradually reduces your visibility. New releases push you further down the queue.
The question isn't whether the dip happens. It's whether you have a plan for what comes after.
Update Visibility Rounds: Your Five Golden Tickets
Steamworks gives every game five Update Visibility Rounds. These are powerful, limited, and widely misused.
When you trigger a round, your game appears in a dedicated section on Steam's front page for up to 30 days (or 1 million impressions, whichever comes first). The audience is people who already own your game or have it wishlisted. This means Update Visibility Rounds are designed to re-engage existing players and convert remaining wishlisters, not to reach entirely new audiences.
Five rounds. That's it to start. Valve may grant more if your game sells well enough, but don't count on it. In practice, most developers who ship a single title will use all five within their first 18 months.
When to Use Them
Save them for genuinely significant updates. A major content patch, a new game mode, a transition from Early Access to full release, DLC launch. These are worthy of a Visibility Round. Developers who've shipped multiple games report that burning a round on a minor update is one of the most common regrets—the opportunity cost only becomes clear when you need that round later and don't have it.
Don't burn one on a bug fix. Players appreciate bug fixes. They don't need front-page promotion to find patch notes.
Don't burn one during a Steam seasonal sale. Your Visibility Round won't display during major sales, but the 30-day timer still counts down. You'll burn a round for nothing.
Wait at least 3 to 4 weeks after launch before using your first round. You're still riding launch visibility during that initial period. Triggering a round while you're already visible is redundant.
Spacing Your Rounds
A common approach is to space rounds roughly 2 to 3 months apart across your first year. This creates a cadence of visibility spikes that keep your game surfacing in front of people who already showed interest.
If you're planning an Early Access game, consider saving one or two rounds for the 1.0 launch. The transition from Early Access to full release is one of the biggest marketing beats you'll get, and a Visibility Round amplifies it.
Seasonal Sales Strategy
Steam runs major seasonal sales four times a year (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), plus smaller themed sales throughout the year. Each one is a second, third, and fourth launch day for your game.
The Discount Staircase
The standard approach: start with a modest discount at your first sale and increase slightly at each subsequent one.
- First sale (1 to 3 months after launch): 10% to 20%
- Second sale: 20% to 30%
- Third sale: 30% to 40%
- One year out: 40% to 50%
This gradual approach captures different price sensitivity groups over time. The patient wishlisters who wouldn't buy at 10% off might pull the trigger at 30%. In practice, developers who track their conversion data see distinct cohorts appearing at each discount step—proof that these different audiences genuinely exist and respond to different price points. Developers who've tested this approach consistently report that each discount step brings in a distinct cohort of buyers.
Wishlist Email Triggers
Here's the key mechanic: discounts of 20% or more trigger wishlist notification emails. If someone wishlisted your game at announcement and still hasn't bought it, a 20% discount during a seasonal sale sends them a direct email. This is one of the most effective conversion tools on Steam, and it costs you nothing.
There's a 1 to 2 week cooldown between wishlist emails for the same game. Valve limits how frequently you can discount (check Steamworks docs for current cooldown periods). Plan your discount schedule around sale registration deadlines, which are usually posted 4 to 6 weeks in advance.
Sale Registration
Register early. Seasonal sale deadlines fill up, and missing the registration window means missing the sale entirely. Put Steamworks sale registration dates on your calendar at the start of each year.
Chasing the Daily Deal
Daily Deals are one of the most valuable promotional tools on Steam. Your game gets featured on the front page for 24 hours at a discount you set.
Chris Zukowski studied Daily Deals over a three-month period and found the median game featured had 2,135 reviews. The average positive rating was 86.5%. In 2024, Valve expanded from two Daily Deal slots per day to four, and limited each game to one Daily Deal per year.
How to Get One
You can request a Daily Deal through Steamworks once your game has built up enough sales history. Valve evaluates your sales numbers, discount history, wishlist count, and review score. There's no public threshold, but the data suggests you need at least several hundred reviews and a strong positive rating.
For most indie games, the Daily Deal becomes realistic 6 to 12 months after launch. It's something you build toward, not something you get on day one. Keep selling, keep accumulating reviews, and the opportunity will come.
The revenue impact of a Daily Deal can be significant. Games featured see a major spike in sales for the 24-hour window, plus a tail effect in the days following. Combined with a seasonal sale discount, a Daily Deal can generate more revenue in a single day than an average month.
Content Updates as Marketing Beats
Every major update to your game is a marketing opportunity. New content, new features, seasonal events, DLC. Each one justifies:
- A Steam Community announcement (these appear in the Activity Feed of everyone who owns your game)
- An Update Visibility Round (if the update is significant enough)
- Social media posts with new screenshots or GIFs
- Press kit updates with fresh assets
- Outreach to content creators who covered your game at launch
Hades spent nearly two years in Early Access, releasing major content updates roughly every six weeks. Each update brought players back, generated fresh YouTube and Twitch coverage, and built the audience that made their 1.0 launch a phenomenon. You don't need Supergiant's resources to follow the same principle.
Updating Your Press Kit
This gets overlooked constantly. Your press kit should reflect the current state of your game, not the state it was in at launch. After a major update, add new screenshots, update the game description, and add any accolades or milestones you've hit since launch.
Review quotes, award nominations, player milestones ("Over 100,000 copies sold"), and Steam review score updates all belong in your press kit. A content creator revisiting your game months after launch should find current assets, not stale launch-day screenshots. Consider creating an accolades trailer to compile your best press quotes, review scores, and awards into a compelling 30-45 second video for your store page.
The Slow Burn: Games That Grew After Launch
Not every successful indie game had a blockbuster launch week. Some of the best-performing titles on Steam found their audience gradually.
Among Us launched in 2018 to almost no fanfare. Two years later, streamers discovered it, and it became one of the most-played games in history. Vampire Survivors launched in Early Access for $3 and grew almost entirely through word of mouth and streamer discovery. Lethal Company went from unknown to millions of sales in weeks, months after its initial release, because the right creators found it at the right time.
These are outliers. You can't plan for viral discovery. But you can create the conditions for it: keep your game updated, keep your community active, keep your press kit current, and keep your Steam page converting visitors into buyers.
The slow burn happens when your game is genuinely good and you don't abandon it. Players who love your game become your marketing team. They recommend it to friends. They post about it on Reddit. They create fan content. What consistently works is staying visible and engaged with your community—developers who maintain an active presence find that organic word-of-mouth compounds over months in ways that are impossible to manufacture with paid marketing. Every one of those organic moments is a chance for your game to catch fire, but only if there's still a fire to catch.
Free Tool: Launch Checklist — Use our interactive launch checklist to track every pre-launch task. Runs in your browser, no signup required.
The Long Tail Revenue Strategy
Think of your post-launch marketing as a series of beats spread across 12 months:
| Month | Marketing Beat |
|---|---|
| 1 | Launch visibility, community building, first patch |
| 2-3 | First Update Visibility Round, first seasonal sale at 10-20% off |
| 4-5 | Second Visibility Round with a content update |
| 6 | Mid-year check, potentially DLC planning, 20-30% sale |
| 7-9 | Third Visibility Round, content update, targeting Daily Deal eligibility |
| 10-12 | Major sale (40%+), fourth Visibility Round, potential DLC launch |
This is a template, not a prescription. Your timeline will vary based on your game, your update cadence, and how sales develop. The principle is consistent: keep showing up with something new, and use Steam's promotional tools strategically rather than impulsively.
The difference between a game that earns $30,000 and one that earns $300,000 often isn't the launch. It's the 12 months that follow. The endgame content, so to speak.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I use my first Update Visibility Round?
Wait at least 3-4 weeks after launch before using your first round. You're still riding launch visibility during that initial period, and triggering a round while you're already visible is redundant. Save it for a meaningful content update that gives players a reason to return.
What discount percentage triggers wishlist notification emails?
Any discount of 20% or higher triggers emails to your wishlisters. Below 20%, Steam sends no notifications. This makes the difference between 15% and 20% massive. In practice, I've seen developers waste Weeklong Deals at 15% and wonder why nobody showed up.
How do I qualify for a Daily Deal?
You can't apply directly. Valve evaluates games based on revenue performance, wishlist count, and review scores. The data suggests you need several hundred reviews and strong positive ratings. Most indie games become eligible 6-12 months after launch. Keep selling, keep accumulating reviews, and the opportunity will come.
Should I keep my demo available after launch?
It depends. Some developers keep the demo as an ongoing conversion tool. Others remove it to prevent players from feeling "done" with the game. If your demo is solid and shows off your game well, keeping it up continues earning wishlists passively from players who want to try before buying.
For the preparation that leads into a strong post-launch period, see The Game Launch Week Checklist.
Related Guides
This article is part of our series on marketing timeline. Start with the complete guide:
Also in this series:
Your press kit works as hard after launch as it does before. presskit.gg makes it easy to update your self-hosted press kit with new accolades, screenshots, and milestones as your game grows.