First-Person + Interactive Fiction: a typical launch earns $956 in its first year

That is the median of 104 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 16 of 203 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 9.2 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 15% on the year before: 152 against 132.

China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese

Price: $956
Price vs a year earlier: −8.8%
Releases, 12 months: 152
Upcoming games: 357
Games on the store: 910

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.

First-Person + Interactive Fiction 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	0.05% to 0.14%	19 ranked of 357 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#1,834 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	1.55xhits against expected	1.12x to 2.17x	203 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#5,864 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+30%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	+4% to +59%	29 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#501 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+9%review growth against same-age games	−1% to +16%	29 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#385 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: 16
Expected: 9.2

Launches: 203
Hit rate: 7.9%5.1% to 13.0%
Expected rate: 4.5%
Against expected: 1.55x1.12x 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

203 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: $35
Median: $1,010
Top tenth: $68,813

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: 152
Prior 12 months: 132

Change: +15%
Against Steam: −17%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

First-PersonNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Interactive FictionGenre 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 First-Person

pairs with First-Person

Co-op + First-Person$11,81190 launches priced, 133 releases in 12 months
First-Person + Economy$9,96156 launches priced, 91 releases in 12 months
Building + First-Person$7,38241 launches priced, 60 releases in 12 months
First-Person + Management$7,08093 launches priced, 157 releases in 12 months
Crafting + First-Person$6,99934 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
First-Person + Online Co-Op$5,747102 launches priced, 173 releases in 12 months

Every pair with First-Person

More with Interactive Fiction

pairs with Interactive Fiction

Interactive Fiction + FMV$39,86745 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
Cinematic + Interactive Fiction$4,18748 launches priced, 48 releases in 12 months
Interactive Fiction + LGBTQ+$4,04637 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months
Dating Sim + Interactive Fiction$3,15892 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Romance + Interactive Fiction$3,13063 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Interactive Fiction$2,268207 launches priced, 343 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Interactive Fiction

Verdicts

in development

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