How to Get YouTubers to Play Your Game (Indie Guide)

To get YouTubers to play your game, find small and mid-size creators who already play games like yours, email them a short personal pitch with a free key and a link to your press kit, and follow up once after about a week. Start 4 to 6 weeks before launch and aim for 50 well-matched creators rather than 500 random ones.

Below is the full process: what to prepare, who to pick, what to write, when to follow up, and when it makes sense to pay.

Step 1: Get your game ready to be covered

Creators decide in seconds. If your email leads to a confusing page or a build that crashes, you lose them. Before you send anything, check these:

• A public store page (Steam, itch.io or the App Store) with a clear capsule image and a short description.
• A trailer under 90 seconds that shows actual gameplay in the first 10 seconds.
• A press kit page with screenshots, logo, trailer link, a one-paragraph description, and your contact email. A simple public folder works fine.
• A stable build that someone who isn't you has played start to finish. Aim for a first 20 minutes that works without a tutorial from you.
• Keys ready to send. Generate a batch of 50 to 100 so you can reply within an hour when someone says yes.
• A hook in one sentence. For example: "a cozy farming game where your crops are also your pets." If you can't say it in one line, the creator can't either.

Also look at your game through a creator's eyes. Can they get a decent 10-minute video out of it? Games with a clear loop, funny failure moments or quick progress make better videos than slow, quiet ones. You can't always change that, but you can pick creators whose audience likes your pace.

Step 2: Pick the right creators (smaller than you think)

Most developers go straight for the biggest names and get no reply. Smaller channels are more likely to read your email and need content. They are also more likely to play something they've never heard of.

Here is how the creators in UGC Finder's directory break down by size. Views are typical views per recent video, and the figures cover all 6,254 creators across every niche:

The Gaming niche in the same directory has 507 creators. Of those, 27% are Nano, 40% are Micro, 26% are Mid and only 7% are Macro. So most gaming creators you can realistically reach have under 100K subscribers. Typical views per video in the niche are about 14,453, and 96% of these channels posted in the last 30 days, so most are active.

Match on genre first, size second

A 5K-subscriber channel that only plays cozy games will do more for your cozy game than a 500K channel that plays shooters. Look for creators who have covered at least three games similar to yours in the last couple of months. Genre pages help here: Indie Gaming YouTubers is the largest group at 257 channels, and there are narrower lists such as Cozy and Horror.

Check format too

In the Gaming niche, 53% of creators mostly post long videos and 22% mostly post Shorts. Long-form creators suit games that need explanation or have depth. Shorts creators suit games with quick, funny or visually striking moments. Pick the format that fits your game, or send different pitches to each.

A quick filter for every channel

1. Posted a video in the last 30 days.
2. Plays games in your genre, ideally indie or lesser-known titles.
3. Typical views are steady, not one viral hit and then silence.
4. Has a business email or contact method in the About page.
5. Comments look real, with people replying to each other.

Step 3: Build your list of 50

You can build a list by hand. Search YouTube for 5 to 10 games similar to yours, filter to the last month, and open the channels of people who made those videos. Note the channel, email, typical views and your match reason in a spreadsheet. Expect it to take a few minutes per creator.

To speed this up, UGC Finder lets you filter gaming creators by topic, subscriber size, language, country, Shorts versus long videos and recent activity. You see business emails and other social accounts, can save a shortlist and mark who you've contacted. Whichever way you do it, aim for about 50 creators, split roughly like this:

• 30 Nano and Micro channels with a strong genre match.
• 15 Mid-size channels that regularly cover indie games.
• 5 stretch picks that are bigger. Treat any reply as a bonus.

Step 4: Write an email they will actually answer

Keep it under 120 words. Creators get many pitches, and most are long, generic and about the developer. Yours should be short, specific and about their audience.

Subject lines that work

• Key for [Game Name], a [genre] you might like
• Saw your [Similar Game] video, made something similar
• [Game Name]: free key + press kit

Avoid all caps, "collab opportunity" and anything that sounds like a mass mailing.

A template you can adapt

"Hi [Name], I watched your [specific video] and liked [one real detail]. I'm a solo dev and just made [Game Name], a [one-sentence hook]. Because you play [genre], I thought it might suit your channel. Here's a free Steam key: [key]. The trailer and screenshots are here: [press kit link]. No obligation to cover it, and if you do, I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks for your time, [Your name]"

The detail from their video matters. It shows a person wrote this, and it's the part most pitches skip. AI-personalised outreach can help you draft that line faster, but read every email before it goes out and make sure the detail is true.

Tip Put the key in the first email. Asking "Can I send you a key?" adds a round trip, and many creators won't bother replying to get it.

Step 5: Send, follow up, then stop

A simple schedule keeps this manageable:

Send in batches rather than all at once. If the first 10 emails get no replies, you can fix the subject line or the pitch before you spend the rest of your list.

Send one follow-up and no more. Many creators don't answer but will still play a key. Others never see the first message. A second message is polite. A third is annoying.

Reply rates vary a lot by genre, timing and how well you've targeted. As a planning estimate, expect to send 30 to 50 emails to end up with a handful of videos. Don't treat that as a promise. If you get nothing from 30 well-matched emails, the problem is almost always the game's first impression or the pitch, not the creators.

Free keys or paid sponsorships?

Start with free keys. Most small and mid-size creators happily play a game they find interesting, and a key costs you nothing. A paid sponsorship guarantees a video, but not that people will wishlist or buy.

For paid deals, there is no standard rate. As a rough estimate, rates scale with typical views, so a channel that gets around 10,000 views per video will usually ask for far less than one that gets 100,000. Work backwards from what you can afford. If you can spend $300, decide whether one video from a mid-size channel or three videos from Micro channels is likelier to reach your players. For most indie games, several smaller creators in the right genre beat one big channel that doesn't fit.

Ask for the creator's rate card and what is included, such as a dedicated video or a mention, how long the link stays in the description, and whether they'll disclose the sponsorship. Don't ask for a positive review. Honest coverage is more credible and more useful to you.

Step 6: Make yes easy and keep the relationship

• Reply fast. If someone asks for a different platform key or build, send it within a day.
• Don't ask for a date. Say "whenever it fits" and let them schedule.
• Watch the video and comment with something specific, like a funny moment or a bug you've since fixed.
• Use what you learn. Notes on where players get stuck are free playtesting.
• Ask permission to reuse clips in your store page or social posts, and credit the creator.
• Keep a record of who replied, who covered you, and who might want your next game.

If you track this in a spreadsheet, add columns for date contacted, follow-up date, status and notes. If you use a directory with a shortlist and contacted marker, such as UGC Finder, the same thing happens there. Either way, don't email the same person twice by accident.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mass-BCC emails. Creators can tell, and it ends the conversation.
• Pitching the wrong genre. A horror channel won't cover your farming sim, however nice your email is.
• Long emails. If your pitch needs scrolling, cut it.
• Sending too late. Starting the week of launch leaves no time for creators to play, record and edit.
• Demanding feedback or a good score. Ask for an honest look, not praise.
• Ignoring Shorts. Short, funny clips can bring in players if your game has quick visual moments.

If your game has a coding or dev-log angle, you can also look at Coding & Indie Dev YouTubers, who sometimes cover games for their making-of story. The main work, though, is still in Gaming YouTubers.