At the 'Game UA 2026: Growth Strategy Seminar via AI' held on June 4, Choi Hye-rin, Customer Success Team Lead at AB180 (hereinafter referred to as Lead Choi), gave a presentation on 'Steam Marketing Strategies to Captivate Global Users.' At AB180, Lead Choi supports the global growth strategies of domestic and international game companies through attribution and marketing solutions Airbridge and Airflux.

At the beginning of her presentation, Lead Choi stated, "I am not particularly adept at using AI myself, so I have boldly excluded AI-related content." Instead, she focused on Steam marketing—a relatively unfamiliar territory for mobile marketers—noting the recent increase in job postings for 'Steam Marketers' in the gaming industry. She explained that this approach is intended to prepare for the eventuality of launching a company's games on Steam.

Lead Choi opened her main discussion by diagnosing that it has become difficult to find titles from Korean game companies in the global market. Presenting Google Play revenue rankings for Korea, the U.S., and Japan as of June 1, she explained that while domestic titles like 'Lineage' and 'MapleStory Grow' are visible in Korea, the share of global game companies increases as one looks toward the U.S. and Japan. She added that global publishers also dominate the top rankings in major marketing target countries such as the U.K., Taiwan, and Indonesia. In terms of download rankings, she noted that overseas titles like 'arrow puzzle' games and 'Royal Kingdom' are strong in the U.S. and Japan.

She identified ad network market share as a more significant problem. According to Lead Choi, major ad networks like AdMob, AppLovin, and Unity were dominated by global publishers from China, Japan, Germany, and Turkey as of May. She pointed out that large game companies like Century Games have already secured not only puzzle games but also various genres like merge games through sheer capital, making it difficult to compete head-on with standard budgets.

User consumption patterns for games are also changing. Lead Choi analyzed that as mobile game downloads turned downward in 2025 and revenue growth stalled at around 1%, the structure has shifted from driving revenue through new user acquisition to focusing on retention and increased spending from existing users. She added that the flow of usage is moving from games where users consume fixed content to UGC game platforms (such as 'MapleStory Worlds') where users create content and interact directly.

While mobile growth has slowed, PC and console platforms are growing rapidly in both revenue and downloads. Lead Choi assessed that with revenue growth rates of approximately 13% and download growth rates of about 6%, the PC and console market still has plenty of room for growth, unlike the mature mobile market.

The platform at the center of this is Steam. According to public data cited by Lead Choi, Steam's monthly active users (MAU) reached approximately 140 million in 2025, an increase of about 11% compared to the previous year. Concurrent users (CCU) surpassed 40 million for the first time in 2025 and have recently exceeded 42 million, which is about double the level seen in 2020.

Lead Choi emphasized that while terms frequently used in Steam marketing—such as Wishlist, Early Access, and Steam Store Tags—can be understood by comparing them to mobile's pre-registration, launch, and App Store keywords, they are fundamentally different in nature.

First, the launch rhythm on Steam is longer than on mobile. She cited the example of the roguelite game 'Hades,' which entered Steam Early Access about a year after its trailer was released in December 2018 and its stint in Epic Games Early Access, followed by another 9 months until its official release and an additional 10 months for its Switch release. MINTROCKET's 'DAVE THE DIVER' started with the Steam Next Fest in June 2022, taking 4 months to reach Early Access and another 8 months from Early Access to official release. NEOWIZ's 'SANABI' took about two years and 8 months from the release of its Steam demo to its official launch.

Second, there is no set answer for Steam marketing yet. Steam states that there are no paid exposure slots within the public scope, and store tags effectively influence all recommendation algorithms. This means there is no standardized methodology like running CPI campaigns followed by retargeting campaigns as seen in mobile.

Lead Choi introduced four exposure slots that are particularly important on Steam. The 'Curated' section is a page where Steam directly selects games to show to all users regardless of their interests; factors such as sales volume, community management, controller support, supported languages, and regional pricing play a crucial role in getting featured.

The 'Featured & Recommended' tab is composed based on individual user algorithms, so preferred genres, playtime, and recommendations from Steam friends have an impact. 'Top Sellers' is based on total trackable revenue, including DLC and in-game purchases, and is arranged according to the user's region. The 'Popular Upcoming' section, which is important for pre-launch exposure, considers not just the simple cumulative number of wishlists, but also the rate of wishlist growth over two-week periods.

Next, Lead Choi suggested that Steam marketing should be managed holistically across four pillars: Wishlists, Steam official programs, community, and influencers.

① Wishlist - Despite the emergence of new technologies and channels, the wishlist remains a key indicator for predicting market readiness and user demand. Although Steam does not provide official conversion figures, many developers and publishers have empirical benchmarks for different segments. She explained that exceeding a certain level leads to market validation, a foundation for initial sales, entry into the 'Popular Upcoming' tab, meaningful initial sales volume, and an increased probability of being recommended by Steam, while reaching higher tiers can lead to results on par with major hits.

② Steam Official Programs - One must actively utilize the testing and promotional features provided by Steam. Testing features include: ▲ 'Demo' (a build for participating in Next Fest; demo play data can be linked to the full version if cloud saves are set up, though there is a risk of negative reviews if content is lacking), ▲ 'Prologue' (operates on a separate page from the main store; while it can secure additional exposure, negative reviews can adversely affect purchase decisions for the main game, and it requires separate operational resources), and ▲ 'Playtest' (verifies play data, balance, and servers without affecting the main game's rating).

Promotions are represented by Next Fest and Early Access. Next Fest is an event held three times a year for one week, where Steam gathers upcoming releases in one place using demo builds. It allows for concentrated wishlist acquisition and large-scale public testing at a low cost, but each game can only participate once, and low initial engagement (especially in the first 48 hours of exposure) can lead to reduced exposure later in the event. Low demo quality also negatively impacts wishlist conversion. Early Access is a version that allows for revenue generation and promotion during the development phase, which is advantageous for long-term community building. However, if a game has already been officially released on other stores like Epic Games, it cannot be released as Early Access on Steam and must be released as a full version.

③ Community - This is a pillar that Lead Choi emphasized as particularly important. Through two-way communication between the game company and users, interest must be maintained from the development stage, creating a foundation that leads to word-of-mouth after launch. She cited 'DAVE THE DIVER' as a best practice. During its 8 months of Early Access, the team implemented about 25 game improvements, published developer notes in various forms such as videos and articles, broadcasted in Korean and English on YouTube with every update, and communicated with users daily via Discord. They even created a NPC in the game based on a North American influencer who played the game from the Early Access stage, which drew a positive response.

④ Influencers - This is the pillar that maximizes viral effects. While having a large number of followers is advantageous, it is more effective to recruit many micro- or mid-tier influencers who fit the game's genre and playstyle based on engagement rates rather than absolute scale. One should also utilize methods like providing test builds to maintain authentic content. Steam Curators are like influencers active within Steam; you can send keys or request messages directly through Steam, and they are worth utilizing actively due to their high user trust.

Lead Choi also emphasized timing. She suggested that content should be published intensively from the Playtest to Next Fest, and in the 1–2 weeks just before launch, to create a period where wishlists peak. This is because the volume, rate, and speed of wishlist growth have a significant impact on other indicators. If you can secure dedicated tracking links for each creative, you can measure inflow and conversion by link to expand collaboration with creators who have high conversion contributions.