Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Exploration + Time Management: a typical launch earns $607 in its first year

That is the median of 60 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 6 of 114 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 8.0 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 12% on the year before: 74 against 66.

China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese

Price: $607
Price vs a year earlier: −42.3%
Releases, 12 months: 74
Upcoming games: 226
Games on the store: 474

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 + Time Management 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.	0.09%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.06% to 0.12%	23 ranked of 226 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#1,899 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese Listed after unflagged rows on this board	0.82xhits against expected	0.56x to 1.29x	114 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#6,195 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: 6
Expected: 8.0

Launches: 114
Hit rate: 5.3%2.5% to 9.5%
Expected rate: 7.0%
Against expected: 0.82x0.56x to 1.29x

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: $607
Top tenth: $21,142

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: 74
Prior 12 months: 66

Change: +12%

Parent tags

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

pairs with Time Management

Management + Time Management$4,513108 launches priced, 174 releases in 12 months
Crafting + Time Management$4,50230 launches priced, 49 releases in 12 months
Economy + Time Management$3,82249 launches priced, 106 releases in 12 months
Life Sim + Time Management$3,64385 launches priced, 143 releases in 12 months
Building + Time Management$2,83132 launches priced, 38 releases in 12 months
Cooking + Time Management$2,66937 launches priced, 61 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Time Management

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.