Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

City Builder + Economy: a typical launch earns $9,561 in its first year

That is the median of 48 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 17 of 81 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 11.4 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 23% on the year before: 64 against 52.

Price: $9,561
Price vs a year earlier: −49.5%
Releases, 12 months: 64
Upcoming games: 219
Games on the store: 552

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.

City Builder + Economy 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.	0.47%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.27% to 0.76%	32 ranked of 219 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#514 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.39xhits against expected	1.03x to 1.86x	81 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#1,014 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches. One game dominates the figure	+8%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−15% to +48%	45 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,184 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal. One game dominates the figure Listed after unflagged rows on this board	−4%review growth against same-age games	−13% to +7%	45 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#2,220 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: 17
Expected: 11.4

Launches: 81
Hit rate: 21.0%15.0% to 29.7%
Expected rate: 14.1%
Against expected: 1.39x1.03x to 1.86x

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

81 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: $182
Median: $9,097
Top tenth: $391,620

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: 64
Prior 12 months: 52

Change: +23%
Against Steam: −11%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

City BuilderGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
EconomyNot 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 City Builder

pairs with City Builder

Sandbox + City Builder$11,53977 launches priced, 92 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Base Building$11,53773 launches priced, 109 releases in 12 months
Tower Defense + City Builder$8,80032 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Resource Management$8,36456 launches priced, 73 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Management$8,27073 launches priced, 95 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Colony Sim$5,26265 launches priced, 78 releases in 12 months

Every pair with City Builder

More with Economy

pairs with Economy

Trading + Economy$24,39844 launches priced, 105 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Economy$15,26966 launches priced, 136 releases in 12 months
Economy + Shop Keeper$15,12233 launches priced, 133 releases in 12 months
Economy + Life Sim$15,00083 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Economy + Immersive Sim$14,95288 launches priced, 116 releases in 12 months
Realistic + Economy$10,95531 launches priced, 37 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Economy

Verdicts

in development

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