Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Difficult + Bullet Hell: a typical launch earns $2,121 in its first year

That is the median of 50 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 4 of 93 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 5.6 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 2% on the year before: 58 against 57.

Price: $2,121
Price vs a year earlier: −0.1%
Releases, 12 months: 58
Upcoming games: 166
Games on the store: 655

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.

Difficult + Bullet Hell 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.	0.07%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.04% to 0.09%	15 ranked of 166 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#2,164 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	0.82xhits against expected	0.56x to 1.35x	93 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#3,976 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	+10%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−23% to +58%	17 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,119 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	−18%review growth against same-age games	−39% to +4%	17 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#2,458 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: 4
Expected: 5.6

Launches: 93
Hit rate: 4.3%2.4% to 12.3%
Expected rate: 6.0%
Against expected: 0.82x0.56x to 1.35x

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

93 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: $64
Median: $1,780
Top tenth: $49,048

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: 58
Prior 12 months: 57

Change: +2%
Against Steam: −25%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

DifficultNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Bullet HellGenre 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 Difficult

pairs with Difficult

RPG + Difficult$8,09240 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Roguelike + Difficult$3,64173 launches priced, 93 releases in 12 months
Roguelite + Difficult$3,03570 launches priced, 97 releases in 12 months
Difficult + Action Roguelike$2,42672 launches priced, 73 releases in 12 months
Difficult + Souls-like$2,12341 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Difficult$2,11955 launches priced, 63 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Difficult

More with Bullet Hell

pairs with Bullet Hell

Bullet Hell + Bullet Heaven$14,81455 launches priced, 178 releases in 12 months
Bullet Hell + Female Protagonist$4,45135 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Twin Stick Shooter + Bullet Hell$1,69964 launches priced, 104 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Bullet Hell$1,41563 launches priced, 86 releases in 12 months
Bullet Hell + Procedural Generation$1,36634 launches priced, 34 releases in 12 months
Roguelike + Bullet Hell$1,354242 launches priced, 435 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Bullet Hell

Verdicts

in development

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