Indies I work with are always trying to get seen, be in pre-production (prod), prod, post-product, launch phases, DLC drops….. Valve just moved Personal Calendar into a full feature, and I cannot emphasis enough on how much of this now comes down to date discipline.
What works in our favor:
Wishlisted games land on players cal automatically, another organic nudge to push towards purchase/conversion :)
no minimum wishlish count
algo defined, not curated (no waiting on Valve email), no publisher relationship
Defining factors: playtime patterns, wishlists, player behavior towards simialr games
What you control: 1 thing, a visible coming soon page with SPECIFIC RELEASE DATE
What disqualifies you: no date, a demo-only page, or a late slip inside the 2week window.
Date discipline is where your credibility lies. Delay your release date by more than 24 hours once you are inside two weeks of launch, and Steam removes you from the calendar until the game actually releases.
A two-week slip used to cost you a bit of momentum. Now it costs you a discovery surface at the exact moment it matters most.
Tip from Steam team: set your release date atleast 60 days before launch.
tCARe, CARtic P
iCartic.com