Steam Next Fest - Experiences & Numbers
PLEASE NOTE: I decided to reopen this blogpost, since for some reason I closed it some time ago. The following information is from the Q4 2023 Steam Next Fest.
The Steam Next Fest has just concluded, and my game, Seeker: Quest, was part of the festive event. For me the given event has always been a "black box". I was never sure how much of exposure can you expect from it and what can you do to boost it.
I wanted to share my experiences with the event here as transparent as possible for people who've either attended the event and thinking that "were my numbers any good?" or maybe you're planning to do so.
I must admit that the numbers for Seeker: Quest were not great – not even okay – but fortunately, I've learned valuable lessons from this experience.
Let's first examine the numbers, and then we can delve into the analysis:
[All data is from the event's duration, from October 10th to October 16th]
Banner Impressions: 334,652 (How many times someone saw the Seeker: Quest game banner)
Store page visits: 2,021 (How many times someone visited the actual store page)
Wishlists: 350 (How many times someone wishlisted the game for their Steam account)
Demo (unique) downloads: 921 (How many times someone downloaded the demo. This does not mean that they played the demo)
Demo (unique) plays: 207 (How many times someone opened the demo and played it)
Average time played: 21 minutes (This number is calculated by taking all the gameplay time for all of the players and dividing it by the amount of players)
Median time played: 4 minutes (This number is calculcated by taking the middle value of all players total playtime)
During the event, I utilized YouTube and Instagram ads to drive some traffic to the store page, contributing approximately 100 visits. The rest came from the Steam event. So I guess it's safe to say that the impressions and store visits are almost from the Steam Next Fest event page.
First and foremost, when we compare the number of impressions to the visits on the store page, it's clear that the banner image needs improvement. I promptly updated the banner image right after the event. The banner that I had was (maybe) way too "happy" and "colorful" for Steam dungeon crawler audience.
Considering the low number of users entering the store page, the conversion rates for Wishlists (17.31%) and demo plays (10.24%) are relatively positive.
The second issue is the median time played, which is disappointingly low and lower than expected. Since the game lacks separate analytics, it's challenging to pinpoint the exit point for most users. However, with the game's tutorial, approximately 4 minutes of gameplay won't even allow players to complete the first level. This could suggest a significant issue at the game's beginning, a lack of clarity in the tutorial, or perhaps the opening is not as engaging as it should be.
As a side note, the Steam Next Fest Livestreams were the best source of visibility, covering almost non-stop 1000 viewers during the 1 hour livestreams.
If you'd like to assist me by providing feedback, please download the Seeker: Quest demo HERE, and share your thoughts.
All in all, this event was a valuable learning experience, highlighting the challenges of gaining organic visibility on Steam, even during a major event. Moving forward, my marketing strategy will involve a clearer definition of the game's target audience and more effective methods to reach them. I've grown fond of the idea that 'If Binding of Isaac and Pokemon had a child, Seeker: Quest would be the outcome.'
Hopefully this short "info package" gave something for you and for people who are planning on attending the Steam Next Fest in the future. I guess the best take from this, is that focus on your "store materials" better than I did.
Cheers everyone and have a great week!
Best regards,
Klaus 'The Jester' Kääriäinen