Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Hidden Object + Story Rich: a typical launch earns $1,155 in its first year

That is the median of 101 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 8 of 190 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 16.4 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases fell 12% on the year before: 94 against 107.

Price: $1,155
Price vs a year earlier: −23.8%
Releases, 12 months: 94
Upcoming games: 117
Games on the store: 628

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.

Hidden Object + Story Rich 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	0.05%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.01% to 0.12%	7 ranked of 117 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#6,387 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	0.57xhits against expected	0.39x to 0.87x	190 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#5,388 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: 8
Expected: 16.4

Launches: 190
Hit rate: 4.2%0.6% to 7.7%
Expected rate: 8.6%
Against expected: 0.57x0.39x to 0.87x

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

190 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: $78
Median: $1,214
Top tenth: $12,686

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: 94
Prior 12 months: 107

Change: −12%

Parent tags

Hidden ObjectGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Story RichNot 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 Hidden Object

pairs with Hidden Object

Hidden Object + Detective$1,18352 launches priced, 73 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Visual Novel$1,05038 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Creature Collector$92239 launches priced, 35 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Funny$88938 launches priced, 67 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Cats$865105 launches priced, 132 releases in 12 months
Hidden Object + Investigation$85053 launches priced, 59 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Hidden Object

More with Story Rich

pairs with Story Rich

Story Rich + Narrative$13,10440 launches priced, 59 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Historical$9,68533 launches priced, 53 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Investigation$8,90370 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Turn-Based Strategy + Story Rich$8,09741 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Supernatural$5,82533 launches priced, 45 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Dating Sim$5,71476 launches priced, 97 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Story Rich

Verdicts

in development

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