Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Arcade + Colorful: a typical launch earns $201 in its first year

That is the median of 329 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 13 of 670 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 28.3 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 41% on the year before: 575 against 407.

Price: $201
Price vs a year earlier: −0.6%
Releases, 12 months: 575
Upcoming games: 888
Games on the store: 3,178

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.

Arcade + Colorful 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.	0.17%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.14% to 0.21%	35 ranked of 890 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#1,201 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	0.51xhits against expected	0.36x to 0.74x	670 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#5,571 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	−17%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−27% to −7%	60 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,924 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	−14%review growth against same-age games	−25% to −6%	60 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#1,450 of 2,461pairs on this board

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: 13
Expected: 28.3

Launches: 670
Hit rate: 1.9%1.0% to 2.9%
Expected rate: 4.2%
Against expected: 0.51x0.36x to 0.74x

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

670 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: $182
Top tenth: $5,841

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: 575
Prior 12 months: 407

Change: +41%
Against Steam: +4%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

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

pairs with Arcade

Co-op + Arcade$1,37646 launches priced, 69 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Twin Stick Shooter$1,01169 launches priced, 100 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Female Protagonist$96168 launches priced, 82 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Local Co-Op$96050 launches priced, 58 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Anime$91052 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Difficult$80679 launches priced, 145 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Arcade

More with Colorful

pairs with Colorful

Colorful + Cozy$3,63859 launches priced, 123 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Colorful$3,39962 launches priced, 88 releases in 12 months
Visual Novel + Colorful$2,68975 launches priced, 112 releases in 12 months
Colorful + Emotional$2,00335 launches priced, 44 releases in 12 months
Colorful + Life Sim$1,85851 launches priced, 69 releases in 12 months
Magic + Colorful$1,66832 launches priced, 38 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Colorful

Verdicts

in development

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