Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Crafting + Economy: a typical launch earns $2,428 in its first year

That is the median of 39 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 8 of 68 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 5.4 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 86% on the year before: 78 against 42.

Price: $2,428
Price vs a year earlier: −32.6%
Releases, 12 months: 78
Upcoming games: 193
Games on the store: 386

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 + 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. One game dominates the figure Listed after unflagged rows on this board	0.19%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.04% to 0.42%	13 ranked of 193 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#5,100 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.31xhits against expected	0.90x to 1.95x	68 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#1,335 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: 8
Expected: 5.4

Launches: 68
Hit rate: 11.8%5.2% to 21.7%
Expected rate: 8.0%
Against expected: 1.31x0.90x to 1.95x

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

68 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: $191
Median: $2,529
Top tenth: $131,335

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: 78
Prior 12 months: 42

Change: +86%

Parent tags

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