Agenda
Nobody Cares About Your 1.0: Why Most Early Access Games Underperform At 1.0 & How To Prevent It.
Sarah Hoeksma (Chief Marketing Officer, Fireshine Games)
Pass Type:
Academic Pass, Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass, Indie Pass, Start-Up Pass -
Get your pass now!
Track:
Marketing
Audience Level:
All
Format:
Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
Four out of five Steam games peak before they are finished. GameDiscoverCo's data on 2025 and 2026 Early Access graduates is consistent: only around one in five titles earns more at 1.0 than it did at Early Access launch, and the median game makes roughly 40% of its Early Access revenue when it finally ships. Yet most indie marketing plans still treat 1.0 as the payoff and Early Access as the rehearsal. From a marketing perspective, many influencers are hesitant to play early builds, and media steer away from PC Early Access titles until sales gain their attention.
This session inverts that. Drawing on ten Early Access titles from Core Keeper to Far Far West, it sets out what now qualifies a game for Early Access, what a modern pre-launch access ladder looks like in practice, and what results it produces in concurrent players, wishlists, algorithmic discovery and day one sentiment. It also covers what to do when the first attempt does not land, using Len's Island as a worked example of turning a stalled Early Access position into a 1.0 that outperformed it.
This session inverts that. Drawing on ten Early Access titles from Core Keeper to Far Far West, it sets out what now qualifies a game for Early Access, what a modern pre-launch access ladder looks like in practice, and what results it produces in concurrent players, wishlists, algorithmic discovery and day one sentiment. It also covers what to do when the first attempt does not land, using Len's Island as a worked example of turning a stalled Early Access position into a 1.0 that outperformed it.
Takeaway
Most Early Access talks either restate that Early Access is hard without offering a playbook, or share one studio's anecdote with no market data behind it. This pairs a sourced argument with a repeatable tactical system and real numbers across multiple titles, including one game whose story is still unfolding, and one that recovered from a slow start.
Intended Audience
Indie developers evaluating Early Access as a launch strategy, and developers already in Early Access planning a 1.0, including those whose Early Access launch underperformed and who need a route back. Marketing and publishing staff making the same calls. No prior data literacy assumed; every figure is sourced and explained on the slide.