Metroidvania + Action-Adventure: a typical launch earns $2,863 in its first year

That is the median of 90 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 30 of 200 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 20.4 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 8% on the year before: 117 against 108.

Price: $2,863
Price vs a year earlier: +135.8%
Releases, 12 months: 117
Upcoming games: 688
Games on the store: 1,249

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.

Metroidvania + Action-Adventure 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.	1.71%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.79% to 3.10%	112 ranked of 688 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#137 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.41xhits against expected	1.09x to 1.80x	200 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#965 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+43%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	+17% to +78%	53 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#261 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+14%review growth against same-age games	+5% to +23%	53 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#146 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: 30
Expected: 20.4

Launches: 200
Hit rate: 15.0%9.9% to 21.4%
Expected rate: 10.2%
Against expected: 1.41x1.09x to 1.80x

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

200 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: $2,023
Top tenth: $151,633

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: 117
Prior 12 months: 108

Change: +8%
Against Steam: −20%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

MetroidvaniaGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Action-AdventureGenre 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 Metroidvania

pairs with Metroidvania

Metroidvania + Exploration$4,85889 launches priced, 137 releases in 12 months
Platformer + Metroidvania$2,894105 launches priced, 124 releases in 12 months
Action + Metroidvania$2,893107 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Metroidvania + Pixel Graphics$2,73164 launches priced, 75 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Metroidvania$2,63092 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Metroidvania + Puzzle$2,32437 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Metroidvania

More with Action-Adventure

pairs with Action-Adventure

Action-Adventure + VR$6,75746 launches priced, 38 releases in 12 months
Co-op + Action-Adventure$4,36354 launches priced, 57 releases in 12 months
Online Co-Op + Action-Adventure$4,12753 launches priced, 80 releases in 12 months
Action-Adventure + Dark Fantasy$3,09649 launches priced, 105 releases in 12 months
Action-Adventure + Gore$2,02430 launches priced, 18 releases in 12 months
Action-Adventure + Female Protagonist$1,982108 launches priced, 144 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Action-Adventure

Verdicts

in development

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