Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Puzzle + Old School: a typical launch earns $293 in its first year

That is the median of 40 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 2 of 84 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 4.2 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 27% on the year before: 57 against 45.

Price: $293
Price vs a year earlier: −44.0%
Releases, 12 months: 57
Upcoming games: 84
Games on the store: 404

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.

Puzzle + Old School 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.	0.03%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.02% to 0.06%	8 ranked of 84 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#2,965 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	0.70xhits against expected	0.51x to 1.23x	84 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#4,752 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: 2
Expected: 4.2

Launches: 84
Hit rate: 2.4%0.0% to 5.8%
Expected rate: 5.0%
Against expected: 0.70x0.51x to 1.23x

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

84 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: $0
Median: $313
Top tenth: $8,765

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: 57
Prior 12 months: 45

Change: +27%

Parent tags

PuzzleGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Old SchoolNot 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 Puzzle

pairs with Puzzle

Puzzle + Open World$3,68033 launches priced, 31 releases in 12 months
Metroidvania + Puzzle$2,32437 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Visual Novel$2,10397 launches priced, 167 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Story Rich$2,000292 launches priced, 408 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Co-op$1,92037 launches priced, 77 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Dark Humor$1,87830 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Puzzle

More with Old School

pairs with Old School

First-Person + Old School$2,12537 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Old School + 1990's$1,80034 launches priced, 68 releases in 12 months
Shooter + Old School$1,55845 launches priced, 53 releases in 12 months
Old School + 3D$83942 launches priced, 45 releases in 12 months
RPG + Old School$62748 launches priced, 68 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Old School$60767 launches priced, 82 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Old School

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.