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[Eendhoorn]

I'm developing a game called SpiritSphere, and it's almost to the point where I can release it. It's a cross-over between air-hockey and a classic top down RPG. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=641250657

I think I could get the game ready by June 1st. However, e3 start just 2 weeks later, and I'm afraid the press simply won't have any time around that time to check out the game.
I've heard that it's best to give the press at least a month to take the time to review your game. Which would mean I would have to move the release to somewhere mid July. However, summer holiday is also exactly in that time frame, which might hurt the game in other ways.
I'm really not quite sure what to do  

Edit: I didn't want to make a new topic, but people are warning me about releasing during steam summersale now. That would mean that I would need to postpone the game even further. My game will will be prices below $5 on launch tho so I'm thinking it would be fine myself. What do you guys think?

[NicMagnier]

If you are not in a rush, I would recommend to wait after E3.
Beginning of June a lot of outlet are already preparing their E3 coverage and the readership will be also full on into all the rumors, leaks and pre announcements.

After it also depends on lots of other factors, for example if you have already gathered some interests to get reviews or coverage, who do you want to send review code to...
But in general I would say to focus on doing a marathon not the sprint. Don't stress so much on getting as much reviews as possible for launch but build interest progressively.

(SpiritSphere looks really well done btw)

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

be also careful of steam summer sales  (i have no idea when it is but in case, try looking at dates)

[Eendhoorn]

If you are not in a rush, I would recommend to wait after E3.
Beginning of June a lot of outlet are already preparing their E3 coverage and the readership will be also full on into all the rumors, leaks and pre announcements.

After it also depends on lots of other factors, for example if you have already gathered some interests to get reviews or coverage, who do you want to send review code to...
But in general I would say to focus on doing a marathon not the sprint. Don't stress so much on getting as much reviews as possible for launch but build interest progressively.

(SpiritSphere looks really well done btw)

Yeah I should indeed focus on the long run. I'm bringing the game to an event may 23, I can gauge the response of people on it's completeness there. I'm thinking about July 6th right now.
And thanks!

be also careful of steam summer sales  (i have no idea when it is but in case, try looking at dates)

I wouldn't mind being in there since my game will be priced competitively among the other titles ($3,99 including discount). I don't feel like waiting till august to release my game :p

Thanks for the response!

[Eendhoorn]

I didn't want to make a new topic, but people are warning me about releasing during steam summersale now. That would mean that I would need to postpone the game even further. My game will will be prices below $5 on launch tho so I'm thinking it would be fine myself. What do you guys think?

[krides]

I didn't want to make a new topic, but people are warning me about releasing during steam summersale now. That would mean that I would need to postpone the game even further. My game will will be prices below $5 on launch tho so I'm thinking it would be fine myself. What do you guys think?

If you look at SteamSpy history, nothing that releases during Steam Summer Sales ever sells. People are blind to the $5 price tag, all they see is 90% discounts, no matter how low (or high) the original price was. Also, there's evidence that games that are more expensive, sell better (within reasonable margins). It seems to go against the basic logic of the markets, but it makes sense when you think about it. When I see a $20 price tag, I think to myself: "hey, if this game is so expensive, it must be pretty cool," etc. I'm not giving you any advice, just some food for thought :-)

Good luck!

[Taky]

With that said there is a real quiet before E3 - so not the worst idea. Sneak in the calm before the storm.

[IndieWolverine]

I would recommend you push your game back to July. It's not that E3 is coming, it's that press are already being contacted by publishers and developers for meetings etc. At this point, press already have their minds on E3 and what's to come. On top of the E3 black out, you have the Steam sale which is equally a bad time to release your game.

Basically, if you can't release your game in a week or so, I wouldn't release it until early-mid July.

I hope that helps

[Eendhoorn]

I would recommend you push your game back to July. It's not that E3 is coming, it's that press are already being contacted by publishers and developers for meetings etc. At this point, press already have their minds on E3 and what's to come. On top of the E3 black out, you have the Steam sale which is equally a bad time to release your game.

Basically, if you can't release your game in a week or so, I wouldn't release it until early-mid July.

I hope that helps

But won't people be reluctant to buy games just after the summer sale?

[AMAXANG-GAMES]

I think it's not a right time to release your game on Steam. You should wait for at least a few months and release your game after the Steam Summer sale is over. That would be the wise decision. By the way, Congratulations!

Thank you,

[Zukas]

In my opinion E3 isn't big issue since it's not that long event, few days after E3 perhaps. Just don't do it in middle of summer sale, no idea when it starts, but wait at least 2 weeks after summer sale. You can also get in touch with press after all those things are over and release your game whenever it's truly ready.

Edit: I really like the idea of your game, there will never be enough local-MP games, never!

[GertyGame]

Releasing during the summer sale will definitely affect your visibility in the store. The front page will be filled with popular games that are on sale and your game will probably get buried. I would wait for the sale to be over and release the game somewhere in between the summer sale and the next sale (halloween?). Maybe august-september would be optional unless some big games of the same genre are released by that time.

IIRC, on release day, games get around 1 million views on the stores front page. That's a huge opportunity to get people to click the image and go to your games store page. That's something worth focusing on.

[oldblood]

Steam changes the whole look of the Storefront during the Summer Sale and your 1mm guaranteed impressions could be put on pause during the entirety of the sale. E3 means low press (which isn't good) and Summer Sales means no visibility on Home Page which is REALLY important. Spend the extra few weeks polishing and tweaking, it will be worth the wait to be past both hurdles. Launching a game and getting coverage is hard enough without mixing those two ingredients in...

Also, congratulations on the pending launch!

[ryansumo]

I would echo the concern about launching during a Steam sale.  Too many sales happening all at the same time and you will be crowded out.  Unfortunately this also means that people will probably exhaust their gaming money and you will have to wait a few weeks until launching yourself.

Have you considered doing a launch and selling from your own website?  If you have a mailing list of people who expressed interest in the game you can get them to buy directly from you, perhaps even during the Steam sale.

[Eendhoorn]

I would echo the concern about launching during a Steam sale.  Too many sales happening all at the same time and you will be crowded out.  Unfortunately this also means that people will probably exhaust their gaming money and you will have to wait a few weeks until launching yourself.

Have you considered doing a launch and selling from your own website?  If you have a mailing list of people who expressed interest in the game you can get them to buy directly from you, perhaps even during the Steam sale.

Well I'm already greenlit so it would be silly not to launch on steam :p

In the end I decided not to launch now and I'm preparing to launch at the end of july, so people have taken some time to recover from the summersale :p

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

i think he meant that you could pre-sell steam keys in your website or in other platforms (humblestore , itchio ,your website) or even sell dmr-free version of your game.

Good choice on waiting for Summer Sale to end.

[Eendhoorn]

i think he meant that you could pre-sell steam keys in your website or in other platforms (humblestore , itchio ,your website) or even sell dmr-free version of your game.

Good choice on waiting for Summer Sale to end.

Oh right, that makes sense. I could consider that for my next game if SpiritSphere creates enough of a following

[SuperHatchGames]

Some really useful info here, great thread! Does anybody know if it's best to avoid releasing within the week after Gamescom, which is 17th-21st August this year? We aren't taking our game to the show, so we won't get any press directly from it.

We don't have a huge following yet, so we're more concerned with exposure on the Steam store. We were thinking it's maybe best to wait another week until the Gamescom noise has died down, in terms of press. Any thoughts?