The Steam Marketing Playbook for Mid-Sized Game Studios

Jetstream Sessions with Nikki DePaola, VP of Global Media at Liquid Advertising
For most mid-sized game studios, launching on Steam isnât a maybe. Itâs the move. The platform opens the door to millions of PC gamers, offers built-in community features, and can even lead to console attention if things go well.
But thereâs a catch. Most Steam marketing advice leans one of two ways. Itâs either built for indie devs working with near-zero budget, or itâs tailored to AAA giants with global IPs and blockbuster trailers. If youâre somewhere in the middle â not tiny, not enormous â it can feel like no oneâs talking to you.
Thatâs why Roi Nam, CEO of Airbridge & Airflux, sat down with Nikki DePaola, VP of Global Media at Liquid Advertising, to set the record straight. Nikkeâs agency has launched everything from Blizzard hits to Nexon, Bethesda, and a wide range of indie and mid-sized AA titles. Nikki knows what works, and what breaks, when studios of all sizes try to make it on Steam.
Hereâs what she wants mid-sized studios to know.
đĽ Watch the full interview video
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Wishlists are important on Steam. Theyâre one of the few pre-launch metrics you can track. They influence algorithmic visibility and indicate early audience interest. But wishlists alone wonât carry your game.
âWeâve seen instances where clients are excited about their chart position, but disappointed by the conversion rate because most of the Wishlists were forced.â
Forced or incentivized wishlists might push your numbers up, but they donât guarantee launch-day traction. Nikkiâs advice is to focus on quality over quantity. Her benchmark? 70% or more of your wishlists should be organic and regionally relevant.
âWhile a total of X wishlists will earn you visibility on the platform, that visibility wonât resonate strongly with your target audience unless there is real word of mouth happening in parallel.â
If your game isnât getting organic mentions on Discord, Reddit, or YouTube comments, your wishlist chart wonât mean much. Steam rewards momentum, not just math.
A lot of studios launch with just a Steam page, a trailer, and some ad spend. Thatâs not enough. Players on Steam donât convert based on one asset. They follow a trail. They want to hear buzz, see opinions, browse reactions, and read about your game from a source they trust.
âWishlists are basically a proxy KPI for how excited people are about your game. When you think about it from that perspective, the question isnât necessarily about how do you hit your Wishlist goal. It becomes how do we get our consumers excited about this release.â
That shift changes everything. Your wishlist count becomes a result, not a goal. And the effort behind it expands. Nikki recommends including six building blocks in every serious Steam launch.
You need:
If you treat Steam like a one-shot launch moment, youâre doing it wrong. Think of it as a runway, not a rocket.
Launch day isnât your grand finale. Itâs the start of a very public test. The Steam algorithm is watching. Players are watching. And your strategy needs to stay sharp and ready to respond. Beyond having a fully customized strategy and media approach, there are a few common must-haves to keep in mind.Â
âOne is having a plan B in place if you are anticipating mixed reviews or worse. How can you make the most out of a suboptimal situation?â
Some games crush Day 1. Others stumble. Either way, you need a system that lets you respond fast. Nikki recommends setting up measurement tools ahead of time so you can spot early trends and pivot quickly.
âAnother tip is to have a measurement platform installed ahead of time, to gauge how Day 1 and Day 3 are differentâif you have a team to activate quickly and if the campaign architecture is designed to surface actionable splits for creative, audience, and territory.â
The sooner you know whatâs working, and what isnât, the faster you can course-correct. If your game supports logins or online play, donât waste that edge. First-party data gives you an advantage in LTV modeling, retargeting, and regional insights.
Until recently, PC and console game marketing was all about brand. All eyes were on cinematic trailers, press buzz, and influencer hype. Performance marketing? That felt too mobile, too transactional. It was all clicks, installs, and ROAS, with not much room for storytelling or world-building.
But thatâs starting to change. As more studios adopt live-service models and early access, data-driven strategies are becoming a key part of the marketing mix.
Nikki explains that brand and performance marketing arenât at odds. In fact, they work best together. The most effective studios are blending the strengths of both. Nikki sees a growing convergence between two types of marketers:
âGames marketers are adopting behaviors of more mature categories, which is a balance of media types based on timeless principles like reach, frequency, attention, and share of voice.â
This balance is especially important for mid-sized teams. Mobile marketers bring sharper KPIs and tracking methods, while PC marketers often bring creative instincts and a strong sense of tone. When both sides align on full-funnel goals, campaigns move faster and deliver better results.
PC¡console players donât tap ads between subway stops. Unlike mobile players, they donât download on impulse, and they rarely convert after just one ad exposure. Instead, they browse, discuss, compare, and decide on their own timeline.
âPatience is your biggest virtue. Results are less immediate, and audiences require more exposures to convert.â
Also, PC¡console players donât just see your ad. They see everything around it. The placement, the reviews, the trailer, the context, and the community conversation all influence how they perceive your game. Thatâs why Nikki advises focusing on discovery moments, not just raw impressions.
âWhere can you reach gamers when they are in a mood for discovery? Context matters in ways that it doesnât on mobile.â
Be thoughtful about where your ads show up. A cheap placement on a low-quality site (what Nikki calls a âmade-for-advertisingâ site) might drive clicks, but it can hurt your brand image. In PC and console, adjacency matters more than ever.
âOptimize towards attention and impact. Conversion will followâeven if attribution is more challenging on those ad placements.â
If youâre already running on Meta, Google, and YouTubeâgreat. Thatâs the baseline. Now letâs talk about what you arenât doing that could give you an edge.
Nikki calls out three areas that are still flying under the radar for many studios, especially those in APAC.
PC and console creatives are more about precision than volume. Unlike mobile, where you test as many variations as possible and optimize after the fact, PC campaigns rely on carefully crafted messaging that speaks to the right audience in the right way.
Nikkiâs advice for mid-sized studios:
âSometimes itâs really difficult to tell what the game is by the assets. Donât just say âshooter.â Say â80s horror co-op survival FPS with roguelike elements.â You need strong visuals and clear communication on what your game is about.â
âTo be truly triple AAA itâs about communicating a vibe.â
More studios are going multi-platform. Steam, console, mobile, even HTML5 and web. On paper it makes sense. Broader reach, more monetization paths, and the flexibility to meet players where they already are.
And yes, the strategy can work, but only if itâs grounded in how different audiences think about platforms, especially in markets like the US and Western Europe.
In APAC, mobile is mainstream. But in the West, core gamers on mobile are still a niche group. Console and PC ownership is solid, but when Western players think core gaming, theyâre picturing shooters with a controller in hand, not a touchscreen.Â
âIf youâre serving ads and messaging to core console gamers about the game being available in the App Store, their perception may be that itâs a different type of mobile game â not the one they play on their PlayStation with their bros.â
That disconnect can hurt you, even if the game is identical across platforms. The wrong message in the wrong place can make your game feel like it doesnât belong.
So how do you approach cross-platform marketing without confusing or alienating anyone? Thereâs no single right answer, but you do have options.
Last touch attribution is where most game marketers begin. And sure, itâs a helpful starting point. But as your campaign scales, so should the way you measure impact.
Players almost never convert after seeing just one ad, especially not on channels like Instagram. It takes repetition, clarity, and the right message at the right time.
âFull funnel measurement is super important for any game. At the end of the day, very little people are seeing an ad for the first time on Instagram and converting right away. It takes building frequency with a consumer over time, and giving them the right messages to ensure they are building familiarity with the product, and driving them towards the purchase or install.â
If youâre only tracking last touch clicks, youâre missing the bigger picture. Channels like linear TV, out of home (OOH), or console media might not live in the same ecosystem, but they are shaping player decisions all the same.
Cross-platform or not, the idea is the same. Match your message to each stage and use tools that show how it all works together. Thatâs how you build campaigns that convert and keep converting.Â
Breaking into the U.S. market isnât just about translating your ads or copying what worked for some other gaming studio. Without a deep understanding of local behavior, budget norms, and cultural touchpoints, studios risk wasting spend and missing momentum.
For APAC studios heading West, Nikki shares three common pitfalls:
âYour game isnât that other game. Your gameâs challenges are likely not another gameâs challenges, and your gameâs budget is probably not even the same.â
Weâve talked a lot about big-budget launches, but thatâs not the only path to success. So what does a win look like for a small studio? Nikki points to Squirrel with a Gun, an indie title thatâs exactly what it sounds like.
âItâs basically Squirrel Simulator, except you have a gun. You canât treat that like a AAA title with takeovers and polished advertorials. It just wouldnât land.â
Instead, Nikkiâs team focused on what made the game special.
âItâs about leaning into the brand identity of the game. At its heart, this game is silly and fun. How can we amplify that? So we ended up doing a lot of organic-feeling, community-driven media activationsâlike working with Discord servers to create memes, and working with meme accounts on Instagram to promote content.â
The team paired that energy with smart remarketing and lower-funnel support. The result? A campaign that felt true to the game and delivered real momentum. Thereâs no silver bullet when it comes to Steam successâbut with the right message, the right measurement, and a plan that fits your game, mid-sized studios can absolutely make their mark.
For more insight, visit liquidadvertising.com and airbridg.io.
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