Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Card Game + Choices Matter: a typical launch earns $506 in its first year

That is the median of 34 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 3 of 61 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 3.9 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 54% on the year before: 54 against 35.

China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese

Price: $506
Price vs a year earlier: −65.3%
Releases, 12 months: 54
Upcoming games: 145
Games on the store: 311

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.

Card Game + Choices Matter 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. One game dominates the figure Listed after unflagged rows on this board	0.02%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.01% to 0.04%	7 ranked of 145 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#6,923 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese Listed after unflagged rows on this board	0.87xhits against expected	0.61x to 1.47x	61 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#6,166 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: 3
Expected: 3.9

Launches: 61
Hit rate: 4.9%1.7% to 14.3%
Expected rate: 6.4%
Against expected: 0.87x0.61x to 1.47x

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

61 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: $421
Top tenth: $37,792

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: 54
Prior 12 months: 35

Change: +54%

Parent tags

Card GameGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Choices MatterNot 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 Card Game

pairs with Card Game

Card Game + Roguelike Deckbuilder$6,32394 launches priced, 164 releases in 12 months
Card Game + Auto Battler$2,67141 launches priced, 78 releases in 12 months
Card Game + Roguelite$2,214162 launches priced, 351 releases in 12 months
Card Game + Dungeon Crawler$1,96232 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
Card Game + Roguelike$1,821201 launches priced, 431 releases in 12 months
Card Game + Turn-Based$1,61733 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Card Game

More with Choices Matter

pairs with Choices Matter

Choices Matter + Management$6,87135 launches priced, 79 releases in 12 months
Mystery + Choices Matter$6,00949 launches priced, 114 releases in 12 months
Choices Matter + Dating Sim$4,06442 launches priced, 66 releases in 12 months
RPG + Choices Matter$3,339128 launches priced, 212 releases in 12 months
Character Customization + Choices Matter$3,15735 launches priced, 42 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Choices Matter$3,038225 launches priced, 352 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Choices Matter

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.