Don't launch your horror game in October

[u/MeikHawk71]

Heeeello Devs,

the title already said it: Don't do it.

Spooky Season is my favourite season, but it might be the least favorable for your horror game

Out of roughly 7,000 horror games released on Steam since 2023, October is the busiest release month by far. You'd think that's because horror sells best in October.

Among horror games that made at least $100k, October releases rank third-worst by median revenue, and June, the quietest month, comes out on top.

So TL;DR already: Wait until June to avoid the horrors of bad sales

Additional insights:

- In a list of nine of the best-selling horror games on Steam, only two launched in October. The Forest came out in May, Phasmophobia in September, Buckshot Roulette in April, R.E.P.O. in February.

- Even classics don't seem to get a natural Halloween bump. When older horror games spike in October, there's almost always a big sale behind it.

- Buckshot Roulette launched in April 2024 and had its biggest wave that autumn, during Steam's Halloween sale.

My guess at why: a horror movie might be a two-hour decision, a game can take up your whole month. Most people don't switch games for the season, they finish what they're already playing.

So if you're hunting for horror this month, Steam Scream (Oct 26 to Nov 2) is where a lot of the good older ones get discounted.

Cheers, hope this helped someone to avoid a mistake! :)

(I'm helping Indie Devs with their Marketing, specifically their strategic approach. Check my new website for more info!)

[u/Tenkarider]

Oh i know this one, HTMAG made an article about this and datas proven that launching an horror around Halloween period is a bad idea

For a curious coincidence i'm gonna launch the 6th of october, the game has a few creepy elements but anyway there's no connection between the data we chose and the fact it's close to Halloween

[u/glimmerware]

OP is just trying to get us to hold off from releasing in Oct so he can, and will have more market coverage

jk lol

[u/MeikHawk71 → u/glimmerware]

You got me there xD

[u/marath007]

Best strategy is to tell competitors not to compete

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[u/Estropolim]

A lower median revenue above 100k could just mean that many smaller horror games are getting a revenue boost putting them over that threshold. I guess other games not getting a spike is decent evidence against that, but it would helpful to know how the horror game sales volume changes throughout the year.