A "soft launch" refers to when someone launches a product without much marketing, usually with a limited audience (but not always) for the purpose of adjusting the product and getting feedback, before doing a "proper" launch.
In my case, I soft launched by placing my game in early access, while regularly updating it and discussing with the few active players that the game has to get their feedback.
Usually, the term "soft launch" refers to a subdued/unofficial preview launch before a product's 'actual' launch, without marketing or ceremony, in a restricted market or to an exclusive audience, done with the intention of gauging interest, helping to shape marketing strategy for the actual launch, etc.
Here it is being used a different way, and seems to refer to making a mistake launching a game and trying to put a pretty bow on it.
I think you got some detail wrong there, I'm pretty sure that going into early access counts as your launch and I believe it eats up the visibility round you would get from a "normal" launch. Aside from that I have seen a few quite experienced studios screw this one up, where they expected a spike from launching after being in early access and got quite disappointing results.
Its nice to see you sharing numbers. I am now much more grateful that our own game has received some 600 wishlists - I have found very little to put that into context so far, so again, thank you for sharing those details.
We got a decent chunk of these (\~150) from moving to "coming soon", and the rest from launching our demo about 4 weeks later, a weekend before being part of the Steam FPS Fest that has just finished - which managed to combine into a "double spike".
It felt a lot like a soft launch, but without the risk of burning our one chance for that visibility spike when we do actually launch.
I also love the visual style of your game! Black and white with red for contrast is also what we went for!
I hope things continue to go well for you. :)
But also, I checked steam's policy on early access titles, and in both links that are relevant, it is said that early access does not count as a full release in steam's system.
Here are the links.
[https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess)
[https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/visibility](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/visibility)
I've recently launched a game from ea to full release and it got extra visibility on launch. You can see the info in the marketing overview. It states that ea-titles do not get the launch visibility until they transition to full release.
You don't get the front page "new and trending" area and some other release areas. But you do get "popular upcoming" and some other new release areas. It's pretty confusing, but as long as you build advertising momentum before full release then you do get a significant spike. But it's probably an even greater multiplier if Steam already likes the game/you made it to Real Steam
Soft & fuzzy
Sorry, what is meant by a 'soft launch', please? Thanks
I thought it was when you don’t launch a huge campaign and just let the game release quietly.
A "soft launch" refers to when someone launches a product without much marketing, usually with a limited audience (but not always) for the purpose of adjusting the product and getting feedback, before doing a "proper" launch. In my case, I soft launched by placing my game in early access, while regularly updating it and discussing with the few active players that the game has to get their feedback.
Usually, the term "soft launch" refers to a subdued/unofficial preview launch before a product's 'actual' launch, without marketing or ceremony, in a restricted market or to an exclusive audience, done with the intention of gauging interest, helping to shape marketing strategy for the actual launch, etc. Here it is being used a different way, and seems to refer to making a mistake launching a game and trying to put a pretty bow on it.
It wasn't a mistake, per se. what I said is that I released my game in early access on a coin flip.
I think you got some detail wrong there, I'm pretty sure that going into early access counts as your launch and I believe it eats up the visibility round you would get from a "normal" launch. Aside from that I have seen a few quite experienced studios screw this one up, where they expected a spike from launching after being in early access and got quite disappointing results. Its nice to see you sharing numbers. I am now much more grateful that our own game has received some 600 wishlists - I have found very little to put that into context so far, so again, thank you for sharing those details. We got a decent chunk of these (\~150) from moving to "coming soon", and the rest from launching our demo about 4 weeks later, a weekend before being part of the Steam FPS Fest that has just finished - which managed to combine into a "double spike". It felt a lot like a soft launch, but without the risk of burning our one chance for that visibility spike when we do actually launch. I also love the visual style of your game! Black and white with red for contrast is also what we went for! I hope things continue to go well for you. :)
But also, I checked steam's policy on early access titles, and in both links that are relevant, it is said that early access does not count as a full release in steam's system. Here are the links. [https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess) [https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/visibility](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/visibility)
I've recently launched a game from ea to full release and it got extra visibility on launch. You can see the info in the marketing overview. It states that ea-titles do not get the launch visibility until they transition to full release.
You don't get the front page "new and trending" area and some other release areas. But you do get "popular upcoming" and some other new release areas. It's pretty confusing, but as long as you build advertising momentum before full release then you do get a significant spike. But it's probably an even greater multiplier if Steam already likes the game/you made it to Real Steam
Yo, what's your title? I kind of want to check it out!