Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Crafting + Automation: a typical launch earns $6,722 in its first year

That is the median of 40 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 17 of 81 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 8.8 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 127% on the year before: 100 against 44.

Price: $6,722
Price vs a year earlier: −87.6%
Releases, 12 months: 100
Upcoming games: 268
Games on the store: 518

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.

Crafting + Automation 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.	0.27%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.18% to 0.36%	34 ranked of 268 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#827 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.70xhits against expected	1.25x to 2.27x	81 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#392 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	−51%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−64% to −36%	37 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#2,319 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	−23%review growth against same-age games	−34% to −11%	37 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#1,561 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: 8.8

Launches: 81
Hit rate: 21.0%12.7% to 36.9%
Expected rate: 10.8%
Against expected: 1.70x1.25x to 2.27x

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: $101
Median: $9,342
Top tenth: $929,505

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: 100
Prior 12 months: 44

Change: +127%
Against Steam: +58%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

CraftingNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
AutomationGenre 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 Crafting

pairs with Crafting

Crafting + Open World Survival Craft$26,87533 launches priced, 44 releases in 12 months
Crafting + Resource Management$9,79344 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Crafting + Base Building$8,90179 launches priced, 125 releases in 12 months
Crafting + Life Sim$8,45137 launches priced, 65 releases in 12 months
Open World + Crafting$7,48760 launches priced, 105 releases in 12 months
Crafting + First-Person$6,99934 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Crafting

More with Automation

pairs with Automation

Base Building + Automation$14,08239 launches priced, 83 releases in 12 months
Resource Management + Automation$12,44539 launches priced, 152 releases in 12 months
Building + Automation$8,28246 launches priced, 101 releases in 12 months
Simulation + Automation$5,42078 launches priced, 298 releases in 12 months
Management + Automation$5,42060 launches priced, 182 releases in 12 months
Strategy + Automation$3,21355 launches priced, 191 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Automation

Verdicts

in development

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