Steam Launch Timeline: The 12 Weeks Before Launch Day, Week by Week

The 12-month plan is in the launch checklist. This is the sharp end: the last twelve weeks, when the date is real, Valve's reviews have deadlines, creators need keys in time to record, and every week has one thing that cannot slip. It assumes your Coming Soon page has been up for a while. If it has not, start with how to publish on Steam.

First: pick a date that is not a trap

Three rules. Tuesday to Thursday, because press and creators publish on weekdays and Steam's New & Trending list rewards a strong first 48 hours. Not inside a Steam sale or a Next Fest, and not in the two weeks after a Next Fest either: hundreds of demos convert into releases in the same fortnight. Check SteamDB upcoming for your week; if it lists 800 games, move. Not against a giant in your genre: a AAA release in your tags eats your traffic for a week even if your players are different people. The dates to avoid this year are in the sales and fest calendar.

Week 12

Lock the date, start the bundle

Set the exact date in Steamworks and post it to your Coming Soon page as a community announcement. Steam mails your wishlists only at release; the announcement post is how they hear the date.
Find a bundle partner now. A Steam bundle needs two studios, a Steamworks setup, both approvals and a lock, which takes weeks of calendar time even when both sides are quick. The Dev Hub matches you with a game that shares your audience; a bundle that goes live on your launch day puts your capsule on a second store page from hour one.
Decide the launch discount (10-20% is normal) and the launch price, and do not touch either again: a price increase within 30 days of a discount blocks the discount.
Write the one-paragraph pitch you will reuse in the press release, the creator mail and the Steam announcement. If it does not fit in two sentences, the page will not convert either.

Weeks 11-10

Content lock, footage, the page in five languages

Content lock. Nothing new goes in after this week, only fixes. Every launch that slipped had a feature added in week 8.
Capture footage for the launch trailer while the build is stable: 4K if you can, no debug UI, 15-20 minutes of the best moments. The trailer itself gets cut in week 7.
Localize the store page into Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German, French and Brazilian Portuguese at minimum. Page text is cheap; the languages you list change who wishlists.
Run the free Steam page audit in the Dev Hub and fix what it flags: short description length, missing tags, capsule legibility, release-window crowding.

Weeks 9-8

Build review early, keys requested

Submit a release-candidate build for Valve's build review now, not in the last week. Review takes up to five business days and a rejection costs you a week. Later builds on the same app do not go through the full review again unless the game changes substantially.
Request Steam keys in Steamworks: a few hundred for creators and press. Valve grants reasonable quantities quickly; a second request goes faster once the first batch shows activations.
Steam Deck: if you care about the Verified badge, submit for compatibility review now. It is a separate queue and it is slow.
Achievements, Cloud, controller glyphs finished and tested on a beta branch. These are the features Steam lists on your page; a missing one you promised is a refund.

Weeks 7-6

Press kit, trailer, the announcement

Cut the launch trailer. Gameplay in the first five seconds, under 90 seconds, the date and the price on the last frame. Replace the Coming Soon trailer on the page the day it is done.
Press kit live: logo, capsule, ten screenshots, the trailer, a fact sheet with date, price, platforms, studio and contact. One folder, one link.
Send the press release with a review embargo to outlets and YouTubers who cover your genre, six weeks out, keys attached. Journalists plan two to four weeks ahead; a mail in launch week goes unread.
Second announcement post on Steam: the trailer, the date, the discount. Wishlist velocity jumps on every announcement, so space them out rather than posting everything at once.

Weeks 5-4

Creator wave one, launch discount set

Creator mailing, wave one. Keys to 1,000-1,500 creators whose channels play your genre, with an ask to publish on or after launch day. In the Dev Hub campaign dashboard you watch opens, claims and the first videos land; the numbers we measured were 60%+ opens and a few hundred claims within days.
Set the launch discount in Steamworks together with the release date, so it is reviewed with everything else and shows in the launch mail.
Demo decision. Keep the demo live through launch if it converts; update it to the final build so first impressions match. Remove it only if it shows an old version you cannot update.
Community: a Discord with channels for bugs and screenshots, a pinned launch-week thread, moderators briefed. Launch-week reviews are written by the people who already talk to you.

Weeks 3-2

Final build, bundle approved, wave two

Final build uploaded and set on the default branch. Version number visible in the main menu, crash reporting on, save format frozen.
Bundle approved in Steamworks by both studios and scheduled to go live with your release. The shared launch checklist in the Dev Hub shows whose step is pending; the how-to covers the Steamworks clicks.
Creator wave two to a second curated list, plus keys to everyone who covered the demo. Ban the farmers from wave one first; the dashboard flags accounts that claimed and never published.
Regional prices checked, launch discount visible in the release preview, page audit run once more on the final page.

Week 1

Freeze, day-one patch, the checklist

Code freeze. The day-one patch is built and tested on the beta branch, ready to push the moment the first crash reports agree on a cause.
Everything scheduled: the Steam launch announcement drafted, social posts written with the store link, the press release timed to the release hour, creators reminded of the embargo.
Support ready: a canned reply for the top five issues, a public bug list, one person watching reviews in shifts for the first 72 hours.
Sleep. You will not for the next three days.

Launch day, hour by hour

T-2h: final smoke test of the default branch on a clean machine, not your dev PC.
T-0 (aim for 10:00 Pacific, 19:00 in Warsaw): press Release in Steamworks. The store flips within minutes and the wishlist mails start going out over the next hours.
T+5 min: Steam announcement post, press release out, social posts live, Discord announcement, bundle live check on both store pages.
T+1h: read every review and every forum thread. Reply to bug reports with the fix ETA; do not argue with opinions.
T+6h: if three or more reports agree on a crash, push the day-one patch. A patch on launch day reads as care, not as failure.
T+24h: thank creators who published, share their videos, note who claimed a key and stayed silent for the next wave's exclusion list.
T+48h: New & Trending is decided by now. Whatever the number is, write it down; it is the baseline for every decision in the next month.

The four weeks after

Week +1: patch cadence of every two to three days while reports come in, a "what's next" post before the launch discount ends, keys to new creators who asked.
Week +2: launch discount ends. Read the reviews as a list of features, not a mood, and publish a roadmap with dates you can keep.
Week +3: a second bundle with a game that launched near you and sold to the same people. A bundle discount lives on the bundle, not on your base price, which is why bundles are the usual way to offer a deal between sales.
Week +4: first custom discount becomes possible; the next Steam seasonal sale is usually a better place for it. Post-mortem: wishlists at launch, first-week units, refund rate, review score, which channels sent traffic. That document is the plan for game two.

Every item above that says Dev Hub is free to use with a Steam link: the page audit, bundle matchmaking, the shared launch checklist and the campaign dashboard. A curated creator mailing costs $9.99. The point of the hub is that the twelve weeks above stop being a solo job.

Open the Dev Hub The 12-month launch checklist

Steam Launch Timeline: The 12 Weeks Before Launch Day, Week by Week

First: pick a date that is not a trap

Week 12

Lock the date, start the bundle

Set the exact date in Steamworks and post it to your Coming Soon page as a community announcement. Steam mails your wishlists only at release; the announcement post is how they hear the date.
Find a bundle partner now. A Steam bundle needs two studios, a Steamworks setup, both approvals and a lock, which takes weeks of calendar time even when both sides are quick. The Dev Hub matches you with a game that shares your audience; a bundle that goes live on your launch day puts your capsule on a second store page from hour one.
Decide the launch discount (10-20% is normal) and the launch price, and do not touch either again: a price increase within 30 days of a discount blocks the discount.
Write the one-paragraph pitch you will reuse in the press release, the creator mail and the Steam announcement. If it does not fit in two sentences, the page will not convert either.

Weeks 11-10

Content lock, footage, the page in five languages

Content lock. Nothing new goes in after this week, only fixes. Every launch that slipped had a feature added in week 8.
Capture footage for the launch trailer while the build is stable: 4K if you can, no debug UI, 15-20 minutes of the best moments. The trailer itself gets cut in week 7.
Localize the store page into Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German, French and Brazilian Portuguese at minimum. Page text is cheap; the languages you list change who wishlists.
Run the free Steam page audit in the Dev Hub and fix what it flags: short description length, missing tags, capsule legibility, release-window crowding.

Weeks 9-8

Build review early, keys requested

Submit a release-candidate build for Valve's build review now, not in the last week. Review takes up to five business days and a rejection costs you a week. Later builds on the same app do not go through the full review again unless the game changes substantially.
Request Steam keys in Steamworks: a few hundred for creators and press. Valve grants reasonable quantities quickly; a second request goes faster once the first batch shows activations.
Steam Deck: if you care about the Verified badge, submit for compatibility review now. It is a separate queue and it is slow.
Achievements, Cloud, controller glyphs finished and tested on a beta branch. These are the features Steam lists on your page; a missing one you promised is a refund.

Weeks 7-6

Press kit, trailer, the announcement

Cut the launch trailer. Gameplay in the first five seconds, under 90 seconds, the date and the price on the last frame. Replace the Coming Soon trailer on the page the day it is done.
Press kit live: logo, capsule, ten screenshots, the trailer, a fact sheet with date, price, platforms, studio and contact. One folder, one link.
Send the press release with a review embargo to outlets and YouTubers who cover your genre, six weeks out, keys attached. Journalists plan two to four weeks ahead; a mail in launch week goes unread.
Second announcement post on Steam: the trailer, the date, the discount. Wishlist velocity jumps on every announcement, so space them out rather than posting everything at once.

Weeks 5-4

Creator wave one, launch discount set

Creator mailing, wave one. Keys to 1,000-1,500 creators whose channels play your genre, with an ask to publish on or after launch day. In the Dev Hub campaign dashboard you watch opens, claims and the first videos land; the numbers we measured were 60%+ opens and a few hundred claims within days.
Set the launch discount in Steamworks together with the release date, so it is reviewed with everything else and shows in the launch mail.
Demo decision. Keep the demo live through launch if it converts; update it to the final build so first impressions match. Remove it only if it shows an old version you cannot update.
Community: a Discord with channels for bugs and screenshots, a pinned launch-week thread, moderators briefed. Launch-week reviews are written by the people who already talk to you.

Weeks 3-2

Final build, bundle approved, wave two

Final build uploaded and set on the default branch. Version number visible in the main menu, crash reporting on, save format frozen.
Bundle approved in Steamworks by both studios and scheduled to go live with your release. The shared launch checklist in the Dev Hub shows whose step is pending; the how-to covers the Steamworks clicks.
Creator wave two to a second curated list, plus keys to everyone who covered the demo. Ban the farmers from wave one first; the dashboard flags accounts that claimed and never published.
Regional prices checked, launch discount visible in the release preview, page audit run once more on the final page.

Week 1

Freeze, day-one patch, the checklist

Code freeze. The day-one patch is built and tested on the beta branch, ready to push the moment the first crash reports agree on a cause.
Everything scheduled: the Steam launch announcement drafted, social posts written with the store link, the press release timed to the release hour, creators reminded of the embargo.
Support ready: a canned reply for the top five issues, a public bug list, one person watching reviews in shifts for the first 72 hours.
Sleep. You will not for the next three days.

Launch day, hour by hour

T-2h: final smoke test of the default branch on a clean machine, not your dev PC.

T-0 (aim for 10:00 Pacific, 19:00 in Warsaw): press Release in Steamworks. The store flips within minutes and the wishlist mails start going out over the next hours.

T+5 min: Steam announcement post, press release out, social posts live, Discord announcement, bundle live check on both store pages.

T+1h: read every review and every forum thread. Reply to bug reports with the fix ETA; do not argue with opinions.

T+6h: if three or more reports agree on a crash, push the day-one patch. A patch on launch day reads as care, not as failure.

T+24h: thank creators who published, share their videos, note who claimed a key and stayed silent for the next wave's exclusion list.

T+48h: New & Trending is decided by now. Whatever the number is, write it down; it is the baseline for every decision in the next month.

The four weeks after

Week +1: patch cadence of every two to three days while reports come in, a "what's next" post before the launch discount ends, keys to new creators who asked.

Week +2: launch discount ends. Read the reviews as a list of features, not a mood, and publish a roadmap with dates you can keep.

Week +3: a second bundle with a game that launched near you and sold to the same people. A bundle discount lives on the bundle, not on your base price, which is why bundles are the usual way to offer a deal between sales.

Week +4: first custom discount becomes possible; the next Steam seasonal sale is usually a better place for it. Post-mortem: wishlists at launch, first-week units, refund rate, review score, which channels sent traffic. That document is the plan for game two.