Genres

Ticker: price and year-over-year change for 40 genres. Price is the median estimated first-year revenue of indie paid launches. The same figures are on the Genres page.

Text size
Game Market DataSteam market, quoted daily
Live games
191,514
on 30 Sep 2026

Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Niches / Incremental / Idler

Incremental + Idler: a typical launch earns $707 in its first year

That is the median of 243 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 38 of 559 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 7.6 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 201% on the year before: 954 against 317.

Price
$707
median of 243 launches
Price vs a year earlier
−14.2%
four quarters on the four before
Releases, 12 months
954
317 the year before
Upcoming games
1,442
coming soon on Steam
Games on the store
3,194
carrying both tags

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.

Incremental + Idler on each board
BoardValueIntervalSampleStanding
Most anticipatedShare of all upcoming wishlist heat on Steam, with the number of upcoming games beside it.0.44%share of upcoming wishlist heat0.32% to 0.56%59 ranked of 1,443 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026#538 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.3.86xhits against expected3.04x to 4.89x559 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)#2 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.−59%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam−65% to −55%124 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months#2,342 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.−11%review growth against same-age games−15% to −3%124 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025#1,338 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
38
Expected
7.6
Launches
559
Hit rate
6.8%3.3% to 9.7%
Expected rate
1.4%
Against expected
3.86x3.04x to 4.89x

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

559 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
$40
Median
$810
Top tenth
$53,554

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
954
Prior 12 months
317
Change
+201%
Against Steam
+120%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

  • IncrementalGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
  • IdlerGenre 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 Incremental

pairs with Incremental
Every pair with Incremental

More with Idler

pairs with Idler
Every pair with Idler

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.

Releases

Ticker: 30 upcoming games dated within 90 days, with wishlist rank, release date and followers. The same list is on the Upcoming page.