How localizing your Steam page increases visibility
Imagine, your favourite YouTuber is talking about a game that is exactly the type of thing you’ve been looking for for years: a cozy crafting metroidvania narrative RPG. And it’s coming out in 6 months. You run full speed ahead to the Steam page to smash that wishlist button when you realize it’s only coming out in… Portuguese?
Usually, the shoe is on the other foot. Over 60% of Steam users are browsing the catalogue in languages other than English. With over 147 million monthly active users, that‘s a hefty market share of users who are regularly gaming outside the Anglosphere.
But we get it. Localizing your game when budgets are tight is difficult, and knowing which markets your game will actually be successful in feels kind of like playing Russian (or Spanish, Chinese, Arabic…) Roulette.
The good news? There’s an easier, more cost-effective way forward: localizing your Steam store page.
Localizing the store page is one of the best decisions you can make for both visibility and wishlist performance, while keeping your budget healthy and your players hungry for more. And it’s far from the headache you might think it is.
What Steam says
This isn’t a new idea. Steam’s own systems and messaging support this method, where they say that Steam is “more likely to show your game to players that speak a language supported by your game.” They even give you the same tip we’re giving you right now:
Tip: If you translate the content on your store page into languages that you are considering supporting, you can look at regional wishlists for your game to get a sense of where your game might be popular and which languages might warrant higher priority for translation of your game.
– Steam
During the GDC Festival of Gaming Conference in 2025, Valve gave an entire talk dedicated to localizing your game on Steam, in which they advocated for store page localization as well as using your wishlist data as a way to drive localization decisions.
Steam also released an in-depth presentation in 2023 that most notably showed localization is the only consistent factor in what drives algorithmic visibility on the platform. Not store page traffic, not review score, not wishlists, and not early access. They even come out and say it themselves in their Localization guide: “Steam favors products that are localized.”
Research done in 2023 by Game Discover Co confirms this: Steam’s recommendation algorithm deprioritizes games that don’t match a user’s default language. While there are many plays who have a secondary language of English selected, those that don’t are still being missed. Simply adding another language can directly expand your game’s reach enormously.
This expanded reach translates (get it?) directly into wishlist growth, while also improving retention and conversion quality. In our experience, Steam store pages convert anywhere from 8-15% of visitors into wishlisters, depending on lead quality and traffic source.
The practicalities of localizing your Steam store page
How is it done?
After you find the right partner to work with, the technical aspects of localizing a steam page are relatively straightforward. If your Steam store page is already built, you can export an English .json file from the Localization menu of Steamworks. That then gets plugged into expert localization software and sent out to the translators in your chosen languages.
Expect questions on basically everything, especially if a demo of your game isn’t available yet. You want to give potential players an accurate look into your game, and that involves getting down to the nitty gritty of the language.
Once finished, you’ll receive a .json file per language, ready for you to import back into Steamworks without any copy-pasting: file structure and formatting fully intact.
If you don’t have a Steam store page already built, other options are available. Working in an Excel or Word document works, but it isn’t necessarily our recommendation.
💡 Tip: Ensure you’re localizing any images or trailers as well, as these often have text that won’t be picked up by the .json!
Which languages should I pick?
There are a few factors that go into selecting the languages for your Steam store page. Things like number of players (China is the largest market on Steam), game subject matter, and how much of the population is fluent in English as a second language affect each language’s relativity.
Generally, we’d suggest the following (from highest to least priority):
- Simplified Chinese
- Russian
- Spanish (Spain & LatAm)
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- German
- French
- Korean
- Japanese
- Turkish
- Polish
- Traditional Chinese
- Italian
- Thai
- and the rest
It’s important to remember that these don’t have to be the languages you select for the actual game language. The idea is that you’re localizing the store page up front in order to get more data that will ultimately decide full localization.
How much is this going to set me back?
Translating your Steam store page is relatively cheap. On average, the spend per language is usually less than 100€ for the pages that we’ve worked on.
And altogether, pitting it against all other costs (development, marketing, coffee), that’s a small investment for a massive potential return.
Evaluating your Steam wishlists and next steps
After you’ve localized your store page and continue with your game’s promotion, you should hopefully start seeing wishlists roll in. Once you’re starting to review this data, leverage it to understand where your potential players are and give them a solid reason to buy: game localization.
As we explained above, choosing which languages to localize your game into depend on a number of factors. As Game Discover Co revealed, while many Brazilians will still play in English, Chinese gamers are far less likely to do so. Work with your localization partner to put together all options and costings. As you’ll see on any Steam page, there are three options for localization: interface, full audio, and subtitles. The interface is most important, but if there’s any VO, you’ll also have to figure out if you’d like to go for the subtitles or international voice talent route. Each of these have their own specific cost.
Steam also recommends releasing additional languages as a game update, essentially giving you two (or more!) promotional launch phases. Did you know you can localize Community Announcements too?
So there you have it: a low-cost, foolproof plan to get your game out there. Have we inspired you? Get in touch, let’s have a chat.