How We Earned $410 on Steam with Zero Marketing Budget: A First-Time Dev Journey
Hi everyone! I want to share our experience launching our first game. This isn’t a success story filled with secrets or hacks, but rather an honest reflection on what worked, what didn’t, and the lessons we learned.
The Beginning: Two Developers, One Vision
We’re a small Ukrainian duo: I handled programming, management, and publishing, while my girlfriend focused on art, visuals, and social media. Our game, Hidden Winter Things, is a cozy hidden-object title with two winter-themed scenes, ~330 items to find, and a playtime of ~50 minutes (Steam’s average is 49 minutes — close enough!).
Pricing Insights:
I spent a lot of time analyzing analogues in the hidden object genre. I compared competitors by looking at their quality, number of objects, and pricing. My approach was to calculate a “price per object” ratio. Based on that rough math, I determined the ideal price to be around $1.70. However, due to Steam’s preset pricing templates — and my inability to tweak dollar pricing directly — we ended up with a price of $1.99.
Marketing Without a Budget: Trial and Error
With zero marketing budget, we had to rely on our own outreach and hope for the best:
- Blogger Outreach: Since the game is niche, we looked for small bloggers in this niche (cozy games) and also bloggers who made a review of similar games. We reached out to about 30 YouTube and TikTok creators whose audiences ranged from 50 to 1,000 people — and sometimes up to tens of thousands. We sent them keys along with details about our game. Also we offer run giveaways to their subscribers. In the end, this collaboration didn’t yield any substantial results; Several replies were received, most of the letters were not answered. But even these replies were not answered by the end of the video was not made. Probably our game is too simple and it is really hard to make content or we have poorly identified the target bloggers.
- Using Keymailer, to contact bloggers we received 10 key requests, which led to 2 videos (totaling around 70 views) and 2 Twitch streams (summing up to 5 viewers). But we are very thankful to this bloggers.
- With Woovit, we had no success at all — our company was set up there, but the platform shut down within 5 days. Sad. :(
- Additional Outreach: I also reached out to fellow developers and publishers of same games with the idea of bundling our games on Steam, but I received no responses from that effort.
- Post-Release Requests: After the game’s release, I got numerous requests for keys from bloggers, streamers, and Steam curators on my email. I sent keys to everyone who asked. I can’t tell by the number of streams, but there was no video after sending the keys :(.
- Steam Curators: But among the steam curators who wrote to the mail — some wrote reviews. It’s hard to say how many, because Steam is convenient to directly offer the game to curators (thanks to Gabe). And it turned out that one and the same curator writes to you by mail, and you have already sent him the game through Steam. But in the end 16 curators wrote reviews. Among them are curators with different numbers of subscribers. From 15 people to 18k+. Very grateful for the reviews, I am also glad that they were all positive.
- Other Offers and Experiments: I received offers to purchase keys in bulk (for example, $30 for 1,000 keys), but I turned those down to ensure the game reached genuinely interested players rather than being resold on random key sites.
- Also in the mail came the offer to do a free giveaway of the game, this idea I liked and we gave away 30 keys, which boosted our Steam page traffic by a couple hundred visits per day during the giveaway period.
- Reddit Posts & StreamDB: A couple of posts on Reddit brought us 57 page visits, 5 wishlists, and 1 purchase. Additionally, through StreamDB, we garnered 4 wishlists and 1 sale.
The Numbers: Realistic Wins and Lessons
First month results:
- Total Sales: 231 copies
- 40 keys activations (24 keys sent for press and 16 keys via giveaways)
- Wishlists: 417
- 4 refunds
- $345 Gross Revenue (I’m not sure I can say the amount I got on hand, so as not to violate the rules of Steam, but it’s about 60% of gross)
Overall results:
- Total Sales: 278 copies
- Wishlists: 517
- Refund Rate: 3.2% (9 refunds)
- $410 Gross Revenue(345I’m not sure I can call the amount I got on hand, so as not to violate the rules of Steam, but it’s about 60% of gross).
- Top Regions according to sells amount: 1 United States, 2 Germany, 3 Ukraine (thank you, friends and family!).
Traffic Insights:
- 448,818 impressions and 51,796 page visits on Steam.
- Steam’s algorithm prioritized us for 2–3 days post-launch, then slowed until we hit 10 reviews — a critical milestone for visibility.
What We Learned
✅ Organic Steam Traffic Matters: The algorithm rewards consistency. After hitting 10 reviews, our visibility improved.
✅ Small Efforts Add Up: Even minor wins (a curator’s praise, a Reddit upvote) kept us going.
✅ Pricing Strategy: At $1.99, the game felt accessible. No one complained about the price — a win for us. Also, it’s the first game and the fan audience is more important than money.
❌ Creator Outreach is Unpredictable: Most influencers ignored us. Maybe our pitch was off, or the game was too niche.
❌ Collaboration Hurdles: Reached out to other devs for bundling opportunities — no replies. A reminder of how competitive this space is.
Final Thoughts: Why We’re Grateful
This journey wasn’t about becoming rich. It was about creating something together and sharing it with the world. The real joy came from moments like:
- Reading a review that said, “This game felt like a warm hug.”
- Watching a player laugh at a hidden joke we added.
- Seeing strangers wishlist the game, trusting us with their time.
If you’re considering making a game: Start small, embrace the chaos, and celebrate every tiny victory.
To Everyone Who Supported Us:
Thank you — to the players, curators, and even the lone Reddit buyer. You turned our dream into a tangible achievement. If you’d like to try our labor of love, Hidden Winter Things is out now. It’s short, affordable, and made with care.
