10,000 Wishlists in 10 Days: What Changed for The Hive

Last week something unexpected happened: The Hive gained 10,000+ Steam wishlists in about 10 days.

The funny part is that it started as a test. We were posting The Hive clips and screenshots to learn what kind of content works on social media, mainly so we can apply the same lessons to our upcoming game too. Then The Hive suddenly caught momentum on its own.

We’re a small Finnish indie studio, and most of our social accounts are tiny (some were basically 0 to 10 followers/subscribers). This spike was not driven by a big audience. It came from testing a lot of posts and letting the platforms decide what to show.

What we did

We posted short gameplay clips and screenshots across multiple places:

• TikTok

• YouTube Shorts

• Instagram

• Facebook

• Bluesky

• Twitter (X)

• Imgur

What helped the most

• Showing the fantasy instantly: underground swarm, evolving creatures, “you play the hive mind”

• Keeping each post focused on one idea, not a feature list

• Reposting similar hooks quickly when something started to work

We also shipped an update

We released update 1.307 on Steam during this period, which likely helped too. Even small updates can give you a reason to post, a reason for people to re-check the page, and a signal that the game is actively supported.

What’s next

We are going to keep the momentum going with more updates and more short clips. If you are new here, welcome to the swarm.

If you are an indie dev and want us to share more details (what posts worked, what did not, etc.) ask in the comments and we will do a follow up devlog.