Go-to-market: the launch plan

Launch day is too late

Hyper Shards already sells on our website as a PWA. Next it comes to Steam (Stage 7 covers the store itself). Kai's plan: "We press Release, post on Discord, and players show up." Remy isn't so sure. If nobody has heard of the game by launch day, nobody shows up.

A go-to-market plan (GTM) is the plan for how a product reaches its players: who it is for, what we offer and at what price, which channels tell them, when, and how we will know it worked. Most lessons after this one in the stage are one channel each. This lesson ties them together on one page.

Positioning: one honest sentence

Positioning is where our game sits in a player's mind, next to the games they already know. Marketers often write it as one sentence with blanks:

For [who], [our game] is a [kind of game] that [why it's fun]. Unlike [the alternatives], it [what makes it different].

Hyper Shards: "For players who love fast arcade action, Hyper Shards is a space shooter with smooth controls and huge effects. Unlike many free shooters, you pay once and get everything: no ads, no shop."

Bolt says: Positioning is a ruler for the team, not a slogan. The store page, the trailer captions and the press pitch should all agree with it.

Five questions on one page

• Target playerWho exactly is it for? For Hyper Shards: fans of short, fast arcade shooters on PC. The previous lesson, Who is it for? Market research, shows how to find out.
• Offer and priceThe full game, pay once, US$4.99 (Pricing our games, Stage 6). A Steam launch discount must be set up before release, 10% to 40% off, for 7 to 14 days.
• ChannelsWhere players hear about it. Each channel has its own lesson in this stage, so the plan only picks which ones, and when.
• TimelineWhen each step happens, worked out backwards from launch day.
• Budget and goalsWhat we can spend, and the numbers that tell us whether it worked.

A GTM plan answers five questions. The first two come from earlier work, so the plan points back to it instead of starting again.

Work back from launch day

Pick the launch date first (the Launch day lesson in Stage 7 explains how), then count backwards:

• Months before: the Steam Coming soon page and trailer, so wishlists can grow. Valve requires the page at least two weeks before release, and recommends going live as soon as we're ready to talk about the game in public. Then a demo, maybe at Steam Next Fest.
• Weeks before: press and creators get keys, with an embargo.
• Launch week: Steam emails everyone who wishlisted. The launch discount starts, and Discord and the newsletter announce it.
• After launch: fixes, patch notes, review replies.

A small budget

• US$100: Steam DirectThe fee for each game on Steam, paid back once the game earns US$1,000.
• US$100: trailer musicA licence for a track we are allowed to use in a trailer (the Trailers lesson explains why).
• US$150: a paid ad testA small, careful test. The Paid ads lesson shows how to tell whether it paid back.
• US$50: festival printingA sign and QR code cards for a local showcase booth.
• US$100: bufferSomething always costs more than planned.

Most of a small launch costs time, not money: a store page, a demo, emails and posts. A few things cost cash. Here is a made-up US$500 launch budget. A parent holds the card and the Steamworks account, because both come with contracts.

Goals we can measure

A goal needs a number and a date, so afterwards we can tell whether the plan worked. Three goals that fit a Steam launch (the numbers are made-up examples):

• WishlistsSteam's Wishlists report counts additions, purchases and deletions every day. Goal: 5,000 wishlists by launch day.
• ConversionThe share of wishlisters who buy. Valve says there is no formula to predict sales from wishlists, so we measure our own rate instead of trusting a guess.
• ReviewsSteam shows a score for the last 30 days and one for all time. Only reviews from players who bought it on Steam count. Goal: 30 reviews in the first month.

Bolt says: Valve says wishlists are not a factor in Steam's recommendation algorithm, apart from a few spots like the Popular Upcoming list. Purchases are a strong signal of interest. So the plan turns wishlists into launch-week buyers.

One page, then go

That is a whole GTM plan on one page. Big companies write longer ones, but the questions are the same: who, what, why us, where, when, how much, and how we'll know.

The plan is a living document. After launch, compare the real numbers with the goals, write down what worked, and reuse the plan for the next launch, like Garden Defense's next big update or Hyper Shards 2.

Bolt says: The plan's first stop, months before launch, is the store page. Next: a store page that sells.