Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026
Niches / Adventure / Philosophical
Adventure + Philosophical: a typical launch earns $890 in its first year
That is the median of 43 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 8 of 79 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 4.8 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 9% on the year before: 58 against 53.
- Price
- $890 median of 43 launches
- Price vs a year earlier
- −62.5% four quarters on the four before
- Releases, 12 months
- 58 53 the year before
- Upcoming games
- 140 coming soon on Steam
- Games on the store
- 387 carrying both tags
Boards
as of 30 Sep 2026Where this pair stands on each board of the front page. Every value carries its 90% interval and its sample.
| Board | Value | Interval | Sample | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Most anticipatedShare of all upcoming wishlist heat on Steam, with the number of upcoming games beside it.
| 0.17%share of upcoming wishlist heat | 0.03% to 0.42% | 10 ranked of 140 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026 | #5,173 of 7,193pairs on this board |
| Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. | 1.42xhits against expected | 0.98x to 2.13x | 79 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old) | #939 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 oldMatured indie paid launches that earned an estimated $100k or more, against the number expected for games at the same price tier and launch quarter.
- Launches
- 79
- Hit rate
- 10.1%4.3% to 13.9%
- Expected rate
- 6.0%
- Against expected
- 1.42x0.98x to 2.13x
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
79 launchesEstimated 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
- $806
- Top tenth
- $61,869
Estimated from Steam review counts. Lifetime to date, so it differs from the first-year price above.
Supply
raw release countsGames released with both tags, last 12 months against the 12 before.
- Change
- +9%
Parent tags
- AdventureNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
- PhilosophicalNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Comparable games
8 indie titlesThe 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.
- Peaks of Yore (opens the Steam store)2023 · 3,602 reviews, 97% positiveest. $1.4M
- A Difficult Game About Climbing (opens the Steam store)2024 · 5,411 reviews, 87% positiveest. $1.1M
- Islands of Insight (opens the Steam store)2024 · 1,605 reviews, 75% positiveest. $975k
- The Talos Principle: Reawakened (opens the Steam store)2025 · 1,097 reviews, 90% positiveest. $888k
- WILL: Follow The Light (opens the Steam store)2026 · 533 reviews, 73% positiveest. $270k
- Egging On (opens the Steam store)2025 · 758 reviews, 74% positiveest. $230k
- Seedsow Lullaby (opens the Steam store)2024 · 475 reviews, 97% positiveest. $202k
- Laughing to Die (opens the Steam store)2024 · 3,129 reviews, 96% positiveest. $178k
More with Adventure
pairs with Adventure- Adventure + Cozy$32,10838 launches priced, 93 releases in 12 months
- Adventure + Narrative$12,85033 launches priced, 48 releases in 12 months
- Adventure + LGBTQ+$7,36637 launches priced, 54 releases in 12 months
- Adventure + Online Co-Op$6,34186 launches priced, 187 releases in 12 months
- Adventure + Base Building$5,35342 launches priced, 47 releases in 12 months
- Adventure + Building$4,85745 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months
More with Philosophical
pairs with Philosophical- Psychological Horror + Philosophical$1,26832 launches priced, 29 releases in 12 months
- Exploration + Philosophical$90230 launches priced, 33 releases in 12 months
- Casual + Philosophical$21236 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months
- Story Rich + Philosophicalno price48 releases in 12 months
- Visual Novel + Philosophicalno price46 releases in 12 months
- 2D + Philosophicalno price35 releases in 12 months
Verdicts
in developmentGMD 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.