Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Hack and Slash + Souls-like: a typical launch earns $1,186 in its first year

That is the median of 54 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 14 of 106 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 8.8 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 11% on the year before: 70 against 63.

Price: $1,186
Price vs a year earlier: −2.2%
Releases, 12 months: 70
Upcoming games: 253
Games on the store: 584

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.

Hack and Slash + Souls-like 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	5.32%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.27% to 15.31%	44 ranked of 253 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#3,885 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.44xhits against expected	1.03x to 2.00x	106 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#883 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+35%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	+2% to +74%	35 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#379 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+10%review growth against same-age games	−5% to +24%	35 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#289 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: 14
Expected: 8.8

Launches: 106
Hit rate: 13.2%7.5% to 18.1%
Expected rate: 8.3%
Against expected: 1.44x1.03x to 2.00x

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

106 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: $30
Median: $1,435
Top tenth: $138,899

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: 70
Prior 12 months: 63

Change: +11%
Against Steam: −19%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

Hack and SlashGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Souls-likeGenre 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.

Related niches

pairs with Hack and Slash

Hack and Slash + Female Protagonist$10,32730 launches priced, 52 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Dark Fantasy$3,96244 launches priced, 67 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Dungeon Crawler$2,55377 launches priced, 131 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Roguelite$1,870112 launches priced, 172 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Roguelike$1,870102 launches priced, 145 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Action Roguelike$1,514157 launches priced, 227 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Hack and Slash

More with Souls-like

pairs with Souls-like

Exploration + Souls-like$4,45048 launches priced, 72 releases in 12 months
RPG + Souls-like$3,09670 launches priced, 113 releases in 12 months
Difficult + Souls-like$2,12341 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Action RPG + Souls-like$1,78076 launches priced, 118 releases in 12 months
Souls-like + Action Roguelike$1,41633 launches priced, 42 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Souls-like$1,15753 launches priced, 110 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Souls-like

Verdicts

in development

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