Launching on Steam without a marketing plan is one of the most common—and most avoidable—reasons indie games underperform. This free interactive checklist covers every marketing task across all seven stages of a Steam launch, from pre-production to post-launch.
Built by us, The Game Marketer, a video game marketing agency with over 100 game launches, the tool reflects what actually moves wishlists, drives coverage, and converts players.
It isn’t your generic to-do list.
The checklist is organised into seven phases that mirror the real timeline of a Steam launch.
Phase 1 covers pre-production essentials: Steamworks setup, capsule art, and building your press contact list.
Phase 2 walks through your coming soon page launch, including press kit preparation and trailer production.
Phase 3 through 5 cover the sustained marketing work during development; fun things like Steam Next Fest applications, influencer outreach, and demo pushes.
Phase 6 is dedicated to launch week, meaning: press embargoes, review keys, and community coordination and conversation.
Finally, phase 7 covers post-launch visibility on socials and strategy for seasonal sales, and the update-driven content loop that keeps a game selling months after release.
Each task in the tool is tagged with a category, recommended timing, and an impact level—low, mid, high—so you always know where to focus next. You can filter by category at any time to focus on a particular area, and your progress is saved automatically in your browser.
This checklist tells you what to do. The Game Marketer will help you do it. We work with indie developers and studios at every stage of the launch process, from Steam page copywriting and capsule art direction to influencer outreach, PR campaigns, paid media, and full launch management. We offer a complete video game marketing service.
If your readiness score is lower than you’d like it to be, or if you've realised there are areas of your launch plan that need more than a checklist, or you feel like you lack confidence and need direction, we're happy to have a straightforward conversation about your game and where we can help.
A note on this checklist
This checklist reflects marketing best practice for independent games launching on Steam as of 2025–2026 and is based on The Game Marketer's experience across more than 100 game launches. It is intended as a practical starting point and should be adapted to your game, genre, audience, and budget. Not every task will be relevant to every project. Impact levels (Low, Mid, High) represent general benchmarks and will vary significantly depending on factors including your game's genre, existing audience size, marketing budget, and the quality of your creative assets.
Steam platform features, algorithms, and policies are subject to change by Valve. We recommend checking the Steamworks documentation for the most current requirements and guidance. The Game Marketer is not affiliated with Valve Corporation or Steam.
Your progress in this tool is stored locally in your browser and is not transmitted to or stored by The Game Marketer. Clearing your browser data will reset your progress.
© The Game Marketer. This checklist may be shared freely provided it is attributed to The Game Marketer and links back to this page. It may not be reproduced in full as standalone content on third-party websites without permission.
