Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Exploration + Detective: a typical launch earns $1,941 in its first year

That is the median of 82 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 15 of 156 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 14.3 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 26% on the year before: 113 against 90.

Price: $1,941
Price vs a year earlier: +34.2%
Releases, 12 months: 113
Upcoming games: 314
Games on the store: 797

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.

Exploration + Detective 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.	0.18%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.15% to 0.24%	33 ranked of 314 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#1,135 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.04xhits against expected	0.75x to 1.46x	156 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#2,532 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+17%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−6% to +49%	34 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#840 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+8%review growth against same-age games	+1% to +14%	34 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#440 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: 15
Expected: 14.3

Launches: 156
Hit rate: 9.6%5.3% to 14.3%
Expected rate: 9.1%
Against expected: 1.04x0.75x to 1.46x

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

156 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: $70
Median: $1,597
Top tenth: $95,284

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: 113
Prior 12 months: 90

Change: +26%
Against Steam: −8%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

ExplorationNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
DetectiveNot 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 Exploration

pairs with Exploration

Exploration + Cozy$24,01549 launches priced, 99 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Open World Survival Craft$13,97334 launches priced, 26 releases in 12 months
Driving + Exploration$10,40830 launches priced, 42 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Multiplayer$8,00174 launches priced, 137 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Online Co-Op$7,08069 launches priced, 134 releases in 12 months
Co-op + Exploration$5,14762 launches priced, 101 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Exploration

More with Detective

pairs with Detective

Visual Novel + Detective$5,29368 launches priced, 134 releases in 12 months
Detective + Mystery$5,207106 launches priced, 184 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Detective$4,125108 launches priced, 153 releases in 12 months
Detective + Investigation$3,96395 launches priced, 150 releases in 12 months
Point & Click + Detective$2,10470 launches priced, 109 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Detective$1,619120 launches priced, 201 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Detective

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.