Agenda
Validate Your Game on Itch
Emil Stidsholt (Head of Marketing, Funday Games)
Emil Kjaehr (Head of Product & Partners, Funday Games)
Pass Type:
Academic Pass, Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass, Indie Pass, Start-Up Pass -
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Track:
Independent Development, Marketing
Format:
Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Drawing on the release of countless games on itch.io, including Scritchy Scratchy, Booster Pack Heroes, and The Margot Collapse, this session explores how indie developers can use itch.io as a fast, low-risk platform for market and product validation before committing to full production. It demonstrates how short, focused prototypes reveal whether a game has genuine player appeal, shares practical techniques for maximizing visibility and gathering meaningful player feedback on itch.io, and explains which engagement metrics signal commercial potential. The session concludes by showing how validated projects transition successfully to Steam, turning early traction into wishlists and long-term audience growth. Attendees leave with a practical framework for reducing development risk, validating ideas earlier, and avoiding costly investment in games that fail to find a market.
Takeaway
Attendees learn how to validate game concepts on itch.io using measurable engagement metrics, identify early signs of commercial potential, optimize prototypes and store pages for discoverability, and convert validated itch.io audiences into Steam wishlists, reducing production risk before committing to full-scale development.
Intended Audience
This session is intended for indie developers, studio founders, producers, and publishing professionals evaluating new game concepts. It benefits anyone seeking practical methods to validate player demand, reduce production risk, and make earlier, data-informed decisions before investing in full-scale development.