Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Casual + Life Sim: a typical launch earns $834 in its first year

That is the median of 282 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 49 of 513 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 31.8 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 47% on the year before: 499 against 339.

Price: $834
Price vs a year earlier: −60.4%
Releases, 12 months: 499
Upcoming games: 1,070
Games on the store: 2,516

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.

Casual + Life Sim 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.	0.94%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.63% to 1.33%	111 ranked of 1,071 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#239 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.50xhits against expected	1.21x to 1.84x	513 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#743 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	−11%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−23% to +5%	110 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,780 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	−4%review growth against same-age games	−14% to +2%	110 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#1,011 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: 49
Expected: 31.8

Launches: 513
Hit rate: 9.6%5.5% to 13.6%
Expected rate: 6.2%
Against expected: 1.50x1.21x to 1.84x

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

513 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: $20
Median: $1,112
Top tenth: $84,422

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: 499
Prior 12 months: 339

Change: +47%
Against Steam: +8%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

CasualNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Life SimGenre 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 Casual

pairs with Casual

Casual + Job Simulator$8,44230 launches priced, 54 releases in 12 months
Casual + LGBTQ+$4,15442 launches priced, 95 releases in 12 months
Casual + Romance$2,61486 launches priced, 137 releases in 12 months
Casual + Economy$2,204112 launches priced, 302 releases in 12 months
Casual + Online Co-Op$1,970104 launches priced, 272 releases in 12 months
Casual + Capitalism$1,92351 launches priced, 130 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Casual

More with Life Sim

pairs with Life Sim

Life Sim + Cozy$34,02737 launches priced, 66 releases in 12 months
Economy + Life Sim$15,00083 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Open World + Life Sim$13,38736 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Building + Life Sim$12,54245 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
Life Sim + Management$9,996139 launches priced, 204 releases in 12 months
Capitalism + Life Sim$9,99633 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Life Sim

Verdicts

in development

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