Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Sandbox + Incremental: a typical launch earns $586 in its first year

That is the median of 44 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 2 of 90 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 1.5 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 92% on the year before: 92 against 48.

Price: $586
Price vs a year earlier: −25.6%
Releases, 12 months: 92
Upcoming games: 159
Games on the store: 398

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.

Sandbox + Incremental 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	0.06%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.01% to 0.15%	5 ranked of 159 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#6,140 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.10xhits against expected	0.81x to 1.95x	90 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#2,203 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: 1.5

Launches: 90
Hit rate: 2.2%0.0% to 8.7%
Expected rate: 1.7%
Against expected: 1.10x0.81x to 1.95x

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

90 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: $484
Top tenth: $11,522

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: 92
Prior 12 months: 48

Change: +92%

Parent tags

SandboxGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
IncrementalGenre 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 Sandbox

pairs with Sandbox

Sandbox + Multiplayer$32,53338 launches priced, 71 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Resource Management$18,39749 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Economy$15,26966 launches priced, 136 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Management$11,910116 launches priced, 204 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + City Builder$11,53977 launches priced, 92 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Colony Sim$10,01834 launches priced, 53 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Sandbox

More with Incremental

pairs with Incremental

Resource Management + Incremental$1,36246 launches priced, 236 releases in 12 months
Roguelite + Incremental$1,23332 launches priced, 126 releases in 12 months
Collectathon + Incremental$1,13151 launches priced, 139 releases in 12 months
Nature + Incremental$99930 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months
Incremental + Creature Collector$91664 launches priced, 79 releases in 12 months
Management + Incremental$81071 launches priced, 241 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Incremental

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.