#indiedev PSA: if your game is on Steam and has appeal in 🇨🇳 China, but you don't collaborate with a local partner there yet – consider working with HeyBox, which delivers the same level of support to Steam players in China as you can provide yourself to other regions via Steam Community.
Better user experience -> happier community –> better sales.
When HeyBox reached out to us first, we checked with the Chinese players of Gremlins, Inc., and the absolute majority there (1) knew HeyBox (2) used HeyBox (3) were happy to learn that we may start collaborating with HeyBox. I also asked around other indie studios, and got positive feedback from those who collaborated with HeyBox before (thanks to those who shared their experience).
We were lucky enough to launch on HeyBox in time for Double 11, and we synchronized the sale on Steam with the sale on HeyBox, and the in-game tournament. As a result, HeyBox delivered 1:1 in copies sold on Steam (10K+10K). But more importantly, our players in China could use a hub in their own language, with tips and tricks and whatnot, and felt taken care of.
We are a small fish, with a niche game – which actually makes such collaboration all the more important: we depend on whatever sales we can score, to be able to fund our next game (currently in production). My message to other indie studios is not to miss on such opportunities, and to cultivate similar partnerships in 🇨🇳 China.
Our contact at HeyBox is Isla Xu, who has been flawless in communication and in working together on things big (contact) and small (making sure tournament winners in China receive their real-life prizes, which was always a challenge before). And now that we have completed the first royalty cycle, I can also confirm that the marketing and comms are great, and that the reporting and the payments are as timely as those of Valve (a high standard, if you ask me).
Lastly, this would never have happened without the generous policy of Valve that allows developers like us to request Steam keys when such requests are reasonable and when pricing policy is respected. In the world where pretty much every big company we work with, from Miro to Unity to Atlassian and to Google, regularly makes our life harder and becomes more predatory with each reporting period, Valve stands out as the partner who continuously supports our dream of making games for the global audience, and has our complete trust.
TL;DR –
Have a game on Steam?
Localized into Chinese, and making players in China happy?
–> Consider HeyBox. If you can communicate and synchronize sales and marketing, then you can sell 1:1 to what you ship to China on Steam directly.
The next big thing for that region, btw, is 🧧Lunar New Year – the promotion starts from January 20, 2025 😉.
