Indie Game Launch Marketing: The 90-Day Playbook
Launch marketing isn't a launch-day activity. It's a 90-day campaign where launch day is just the loudest moment. Developers who "start marketing at launch" are really starting three months late. Here's the run-up in order.
T-90 to T-60: foundation
Lock the Steam page (capsule, tags, trailer, copy — see the optimization guide), set up your community home (Discord), and get a demo into a playable state. Start your announcement rhythm: one Steam announcement per month minimum. This is also when you build your press and curator lists — not the week before launch. Playtest now, while there's time to act on what you learn.
T-60 to T-30: the demo push
Your demo is a marketing asset, not a vertical slice. It should teach the hook in under ten minutes, end before the content runs dry, and collect feedback. Festival demos (Next Fest especially) are the single biggest wishlist events available to indies — prepare like it matters, because the data says it does. Checklist the unglamorous stuff: crash-free menus, readable onboarding, a clean quit path. A demo that crashes costs more than no demo.
T-30 to launch: the ramp
Announce the release date with a trailer, not a tweet. Ramp announcements to every two weeks. Seed keys to press and creators with a clear embargo — give them two weeks, not two days. Lock your discount strategy now: launch discount percentage, how deep you'll go in seasonal sales, and the floor you'll never cross. Discounts train player expectations, so decide the ladder deliberately instead of improvising it under pressure.
Launch week
Launch on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday — never Friday, never against a AAA release if you can avoid it. Have your day-one patch ready, your Discord staffed, and your announcement queue written in advance. Respond to reviews fast in the first 48 hours; early sentiment shapes the narrative. Watch streams of people playing blind — it's the most honest feedback you'll ever get, and clip the good moments for social.
Post-launch: the second campaign
Launch is the midpoint, not the finish. Survey your players (demo feedback, review themes), patch the real issues, and announce the fixes — "we heard you" updates earn enormous goodwill. Keep the content rhythm: short-form clips from real gameplay outperform trailers post-launch because they're authentic. Plan your first sale deliberately; the launch discount should feel like the beginning of a strategy, not a panic move.
The itch.io parallel track
Don't ignore itch.io. It's where demos, game jam builds, and early prototypes find their first hundred true fans. The audience is smaller but disproportionately engaged, and itch pages are cheap to maintain. Use it as a lab: test capsules, test hooks, test pricing instincts before they hit Steam.