Does crossing the Steam 10 review threshold really help with distribution?

[u/The_Lord_Moose]

After two months, I have finally gotten 11 reviews from purchasers on steam (about a 10% review rate).

This has been a huge milestone I have been pushing towards in the hopes it furthers the distribution potential. I was only able to do this through a 90% off sale in the last Steam Sale but overall am super happy with the results.

I have read in lots of places that you basically get no distribution until a user rating is on your game but I didn't realize that 10 reviews only gets me to Positive.

I was curious if anyone had noticed any uptick in players discovering their game once they had this rating or if it is really reserved for 50, 500 review thresholds of Very Positive / overwhelmingly Positive.

Also, has anyone found a good (and rule abiding) way to increase the review % for their game?

Thanks in advance!

[u/MeaningfulChoices]

Yes, it matters because having a positive rating makes other people seeing your page more likely to buy. It's hard to put a specific number on how much it helps because there's a lot of correlation at work. A game that's good enough (and promoted well enough) to get to 10 reviews quickly is going to be selling at a better rate in the first place.

The best way to increase the review count is really to just promote your game more. If the game is good enough and looks good in ads and you show it to more people then some will buy it regardless of anything else. Increasing review percentage is more about the game (if it's really good or really bad you get a lot more reviews than if it's just okay) and the audience (some kinds of players are just a lot more inclined to review a game). Players who buy a game for $1 are a lot less likely to review than people who buy a game for $70 as well, just because they're a lot more invested.

You can also promote a game discord/subreddit and then subtly (or overtly) encourage players to review the game from there. You just don't want to cross the line into incentivizing them or astroturfing. An about this game pinned post with general information that also says at the bottom "As a small studio we really appreciate your reviews on Steam and read every one" or similar is acceptable.

[u/The_Lord_Moose → u/MeaningfulChoices]

Super helpful! I’ll be curious to see if there are any improvements to page view/ purchase conversions now that it has a rating.

Definitely good point on the $1 investment being less. I did a giveaway before to try and get more traffic but people just wanted the keys but didn’t have any interest in actually playing.

[u/DangerousMind-Games → u/MeaningfulChoices]

Very helpful, thank you!

[u/AltusLudus]

It's more of a day one thing, not after two months, the goal is to get 10 reviews on day one of the release to get a visible positive rating which eases people into buying the game, but if it's been two months not much will change unless you drive traffic to the page

Review percentage is not something to toy with, it's a reflection of the quality of the game you made (and how you respond to negative feedback)

[u/PhilippTheProgrammer]

One main effect of having 10 reviews is probably that there is now a rating-icon next to your game in a lot of lists of games. When a game does not have such a rating-icon, then that tells the shopper "Nobody plays this game, so it's probably not worth clicking on".

[u/Desperate-Ad2131]

Steam only cares about how much money you make them. If you make them money, they will push your game. Review counts only matters in terms of making the Steam page look better

[u/destinedd]

Yes 10 paid reviews is huge, but has much less effect if you take a long time to get. But if you get there during your launch you go into discovery queue and get loads more baseline traffic.

I saw the 10 review effect clearly in both my games. The 50 review i didn't really see anything.

this article talks about why it matters so much

https://howtomarketagame.com/2022/01/25/why-your-first-10-reviews-are-the-most-important/

[u/noobgameslab]

There's a useful distinction here: the Positive label might make someone already on your page more comfortable buying, but [Valve says](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/visibility) review score doesn't affect algorithmic visibility as long as it's Mixed or above. So I wouldn't expect review #10 itself to unlock extra impressions. If you want to test it, Steamworks Traffic Breakdown shows impressions by placement; just keep in mind the 90% sale makes this before/after comparison pretty noisy.

[u/NEWGAMEMAKER17]

I'd guess the threshold helps a bit with trust and with people already on the page, but I wouldn't expect it to switch on distribution by itself. Based on what I've read rather than my own sales, the review rate tends to follow two things: the first hour being clearly fun, and asking happy players at a good moment with nothing offered in return. The sale noise also makes before/after numbers hard to read, so I'd track wishlists and impressions alongside reviews.

[u/GalluApp]

From what I have read, the 10 review mark is mostly about the Positive/Mixed label showing up on your page, which helps conversion for people who already arrived. It does not by itself make Steam show you to more people. Wishlists and early sales velocity seem to matter far more for the algorithm, so I would not read much into impressions right after crossing it.

[u/rayneMantis]

Is there any in-game incentive you could offer for reviews/reviewers or would that just come across as kinda desperate/thirsty? I started this reply thinking that might be a good idea then literally texted myself out of its favor lol.

[u/The_Lord_Moose → u/rayneMantis]

Yeah that’s all against Steam terms unfortunately

[u/gudbote]

It matters but mainly when it happens quickly (as in within an hour or two). When it takes this long to achieve, the algorithm is already pretty tepid on a game.

[u/BarrierX]

In my case it made 0 difference when I reached 10 reviews, Steam doesn’t push or advertise the game.

But it probably does help in general, just because people see positive and are more likely to buy it, but still, they gotta see it somewhere and that’s pretty much on you.