Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Puzzle + Procedural Generation: a typical launch earns $425 in its first year

That is the median of 35 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 3 of 73 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 2.6 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 41% on the year before: 52 against 37.

One game dominates the figure

Price: $425
Price vs a year earlier: −63.4%
Releases, 12 months: 52
Upcoming games: 106
Games on the store: 371

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 + Procedural Generation 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.	Below this board's minimum sample, so not ranked. Needs 5 or more wishlist-ranked upcoming games.
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. One game dominates the figure	1.08xhits against expected	0.76x to 1.83x	73 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#2,329 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: 3
Expected: 2.6

Launches: 73
Hit rate: 4.1%1.2% to 11.8%
Expected rate: 3.5%
Against expected: 1.08x0.76x to 1.83x

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

73 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: $425
Top tenth: $21,889

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: 52
Prior 12 months: 37

Change: +41%

Parent tags

PuzzleGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Procedural GenerationNot 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 Procedural Generation

pairs with Procedural Generation

RPG + Procedural Generation$3,94645 launches priced, 69 releases in 12 months
Perma Death + Procedural Generation$1,51843 launches priced, 47 releases in 12 months
Roguelite + Procedural Generation$1,38572 launches priced, 152 releases in 12 months
Bullet Hell + Procedural Generation$1,36634 launches priced, 34 releases in 12 months
Roguelike + Procedural Generation$1,31697 launches priced, 145 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Procedural Generation$1,09946 launches priced, 103 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Procedural Generation

Verdicts

in development

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