Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Action + Hidden Object: a typical launch earns $394 in its first year

That is the median of 116 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 1 of 222 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 9.1 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 8% on the year before: 139 against 129.

Price: $394
Price vs a year earlier: −20.4%
Releases, 12 months: 139
Upcoming games: 286
Games on the store: 873

Boards

as of 30 Sep 2026

Where this pair stands on each board of the front page. Every value carries its 90% interval and its sample.

Action + Hidden Object on each board
Board	Value	Interval	Sample	Standing
Most anticipatedShare of all upcoming wishlist heat on Steam, with the number of upcoming games beside it.	0.04%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.02% to 0.06%	10 ranked of 286 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#2,893 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	0.33xhits against expected	0.27x to 0.61x	222 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#5,784 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	Below this board's minimum sample, so not ranked. Needs 15 or more tracked games and 20 or more releases in each 12-month period.
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	Below this board's minimum sample, so not ranked. Needs 15 or more tracked games and 1,000 reviews in each window.

Pairs are noisier than genres: the demand boards at pair level are indicative only.

Launch success

launches 6 to 30 months old

Matured indie paid launches that earned an estimated $100k or more, against the number expected for games at the same price tier and launch quarter.

Hits: 1
Expected: 9.1

Launches: 222
Hit rate: 0.5%0.0% to 3.0%
Expected rate: 4.1%
Against expected: 0.33x0.27x to 0.61x

Launch window: indie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old). Hit odds are shrunk toward the Steam-wide rate by 3 expected hits.

Revenue spread

222 launches

Estimated lifetime gross of the same matured launches. Half earned less than the median; one in ten earned more than the top figure.

Bottom tenth: $0
Median: $332
Top tenth: $5,780

Estimated from Steam review counts. Lifetime to date, so it differs from the first-year price above.

Supply

raw release counts

Games released with both tags, last 12 months against the 12 before.

Last 12 months: 139
Prior 12 months: 129

Change: +8%

Parent tags

ActionNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Hidden ObjectGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.

Comparable games

8 indie titles

The biggest indie games in this pair by estimated lifetime gross. Revenue is shown as a number at 50 or more reviews, as a range at 10 to 49, and not at all below 10.

More with Action

pairs with Action

Action + Mechs$7,85932 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months
Action + Bullet Heaven$6,31331 launches priced, 177 releases in 12 months
Action + Co-op$3,733172 launches priced, 259 releases in 12 months
Action + Team-Based$2,97239 launches priced, 71 releases in 12 months
Action + Metroidvania$2,893107 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Action + Fighting$2,52840 launches priced, 34 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Action

More with Hidden Object

pairs with Hidden Object

Hidden Object + Detective$1,18352 launches priced, 73 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Story Rich$1,155101 launches priced, 94 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Visual Novel$1,05038 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Creature Collector$92239 launches priced, 35 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Funny$88938 launches priced, 67 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Cats$865105 launches priced, 132 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Hidden Object

Verdicts

in development

GMD Verdicts will be a written read on a niche, built from the same data and the published method on this site. Join the early list and we will email you when the first ones are ready. Nothing on this page is held back while you wait.