Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Exploration + Incremental: a typical launch earns $411 in its first year

That is the median of 54 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 1 of 114 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 2.2 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 57% on the year before: 105 against 67.

Price: $411
Price vs a year earlier: −29.7%
Releases, 12 months: 105
Upcoming games: 185
Games on the store: 516

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 + Incremental 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	0.06%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.01% to 0.13%	6 ranked of 185 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#6,212 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	0.76xhits against expected	0.61x to 1.41x	114 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#4,343 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: 1
Expected: 2.2

Launches: 114
Hit rate: 0.9%0.0% to 3.4%
Expected rate: 2.0%
Against expected: 0.76x0.61x to 1.41x

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

114 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: $0
Median: $422
Top tenth: $6,698

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: 105
Prior 12 months: 67

Change: +57%

Parent tags

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

pairs with Incremental

Resource Management + Incremental$1,36246 launches priced, 236 releases in 12 months
Roguelite + Incremental$1,23332 launches priced, 126 releases in 12 months
Collectathon + Incremental$1,13151 launches priced, 139 releases in 12 months
Nature + Incremental$99930 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months
Incremental + Creature Collector$91664 launches priced, 79 releases in 12 months
Management + Incremental$81071 launches priced, 241 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Incremental

Verdicts

in development

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