Winning Before Next Fest: The Road to 200K Wishlists

With The King is Watching hitting 200k wishlists and becoming the #11 most played demo during Steam Next Fest, we wanted to share the path that got us here - and why it’s never just about Next Fest.

We discovered The King is Watching on itch.io, and after some initial talks with Hypnohead Studio, it was clear we shared the same vision. They were confident in building a compelling game, and we had a strong plan to support it through marketing and publishing. The game already had some organic buzz, which we amplified with our partnership reveal during tinyBuild Connect.

Early playtests revealed that the core concept needed refinement.

The team at Hypnohead pivoted - leaning hard into roguelike mechanics, which made the game more dynamic and replayable. We gave them the time they needed, and once the new demo was ready, we launched it with a small paid marketing campaign.

The updated version hit the mark. Players responded well, and our localized efforts - especially in China - doubled our wishlist count in Q4 2024.

Q1 2025: Wishlist Count Doubled Again

This momentum didn’t stop - in fact, we accelerated it.. Here's how we made that happen:

1. Festival stacking: We didn’t wait for Next Fest. We participated in every relevant event leading up to it - RTS Fest, Feudal Fest, Idler Fest - each bringing noticeable wishlist spikes. These were key to building early momentum.

   
   

2. Tone refinement: Because nowadays, a good game or perfect timing isn’t enough to guarantee success, we wanted to give the title a strong editorial direction and its own unique identity. A light-hearted, Monty Python-esque, offbeat spirit that would shine through in the game via added narrative content and also across our Steam page, trailers, and all our communication on social media.

   
   

3. Strategic paid marketing: We ran two focused bursts—one right before Next Fest and one during, timed to the festival’s second day. The goal? Maximize visibility when it matters most.

   
   

4. Regional Marketing: You’ve all seen the statistic saying that 50% of Steam players are now Chinese; by identifying local partners to amplify our key moments, identifying relevant influencers, and creating localized assets - from the store page to the game’s logo - we showed respect for that market. As a result, 33% of the players who tried our demo were Chinese.

   
   

5. Community-first iteration: Since the first demo, we maintained constant communication with our players. Their feedback helped shape the game - especially the decision to focus on roguelike mechanics. Without that input, we might have stuck with the original direction - and missed the mark.

   
   

6. Early demo launch & review collection: We launched the demo page a few days before Next Fest to gather early reviews. Those positive ratings helped build trust with the Next Fest audience and boosted visibility.

Steam Next Fest: The Result of the Build-Up

We won’t go deep into the changes made for this year’s Next Fest (Chris Zukowski has got you covered on that) and here’s our main takeaway: you don’t win Next Fest by showing up - you win it by building up.

Because we stacked our efforts in advance, The King is Watching ended up being one of the most played demos of the entire event, earning us an extra week of visibility on the platform.

And it didn’t stop there.

We kept the momentum going with Steam’s Spring Sale and City Builder/Colony Sim Fest - again tying them into community updates and continued visibility.

✅ Final Thoughts

If you’re preparing to launch a game, don’t put all your eggs in the Steam Next Fest basket - it should be the pinnacle of your efforts, not the start of them.

🎯 Plan your campaign around the whole year. 

🎯 Apply to every relevant festival. 

🎯 Stack exposure before the big beats. 

🎯 And, most importantly, listen to your players along the way.

It works.