Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Cute + Life Sim: a typical launch earns $1,682 in its first year

That is the median of 118 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 33 of 220 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 18.0 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 41% on the year before: 195 against 138.

Price: $1,682
Price vs a year earlier: −67.2%
Releases, 12 months: 195
Upcoming games: 432
Games on the store: 1,015

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.

Cute + 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.	0.23%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.17% to 0.29%	44 ranked of 432 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#951 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.71xhits against expected	1.34x to 2.17x	220 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#375 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	0%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−24% to +31%	62 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,429 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	−7% to +18%	62 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#644 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: 33
Expected: 18.0

Launches: 220
Hit rate: 15.0%9.5% to 22.7%
Expected rate: 8.2%
Against expected: 1.71x1.34x to 2.17x

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

220 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: $81
Median: $1,736
Top tenth: $235,716

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: 195
Prior 12 months: 138

Change: +41%
Against Steam: +3%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

CuteNot 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 Cute

pairs with Cute

Open World + Cute$5,88634 launches priced, 33 releases in 12 months
Cute + Romance$5,22277 launches priced, 90 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Cute$3,396163 launches priced, 188 releases in 12 months
Cute + LGBTQ+$2,97434 launches priced, 56 releases in 12 months
Psychological Horror + Cute$2,84651 launches priced, 66 releases in 12 months
Visual Novel + Cute$2,798212 launches priced, 288 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Cute

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

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.