Soft launching Search to Play: Letterboxd/Goodreads for video games

Hey Indie Hackers!

After about a month of active development, I’m soft-launching the MVP of SearchToPlay.com—my take on a Letterboxd/Goodreads for video games. 🎮

I’ve always loved tracking media. I’ve been a Goodreads and Letterboxd user for years but such place for video games was always missing for me. I am a huge fan of video game industry and I have been playing and following it pretty much my whole life. So this project was born out of my passion.

Why I Built This?

• There’s no dominant game-tracking platform. Some exist, but they’re either side-projects or missing something for me.

• I wanted a business, not just a hobby project. Many existing platforms don’t monetize well, but I’m actively thinking about sustainable long-term growth, which hopefully will lead to building an awesome platform.

• Building something I personally would use for a long time.

Where I’m at Now

• The MVP is live, with core features like tracking, discovery, and a full database of games.

• I’m actively looking for early adopters and gathering feedback.

• Already experimenting with marketing channels taking inspiration from big products in other industries.

What’s Next?

My biggest challenge now is growing the platform and figuring out the best acquisition channels.

Next challenge is to actually monetize it properly before it costs me too much. I guess moderation will also be an issue at some point.

I totally understand all the downsides of such (free-first) product, but I want to give it a go anyway, especially because I have tons of time on my hands and I am willing to work on it full-time.

If you're interested, I would love your insights and any feedback you can give!