Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Simulation + Base Building: a typical launch earns $7,382 in its first year

That is the median of 89 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 47 of 180 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 24.7 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 75% on the year before: 173 against 99.

Price: $7,382
Price vs a year earlier: −19.5%
Releases, 12 months: 173
Upcoming games: 658
Games on the store: 1,357

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.

Simulation + Base Building 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.	2.21%share of upcoming wishlist heat	1.07% to 4.04%	111 ranked of 658 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#97 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.81xhits against expected	1.48x to 2.18x	180 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#285 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	−27%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−41% to −15%	92 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#2,126 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	−8%review growth against same-age games	−14% to 0%	92 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#1,189 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: 47
Expected: 24.7

Launches: 180
Hit rate: 26.1%19.8% to 35.6%
Expected rate: 13.7%
Against expected: 1.81x1.48x to 2.18x

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

180 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: $18
Median: $7,609
Top tenth: $543,593

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: 173
Prior 12 months: 99

Change: +75%
Against Steam: +26%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

SimulationGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Base BuildingNot 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 Simulation

pairs with Simulation

Simulation + Shop Keeper$32,26936 launches priced, 330 releases in 12 months
Simulation + Cozy$15,70676 launches priced, 253 releases in 12 months
Simulation + Online Co-Op$11,02868 launches priced, 133 releases in 12 months
Simulation + Multiplayer$8,980122 launches priced, 253 releases in 12 months
Simulation + Economy$6,979210 launches priced, 540 releases in 12 months
Simulation + Management$6,474399 launches priced, 899 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Simulation

More with Base Building

pairs with Base Building

Base Building + Colony Sim$22,86553 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
RPG + Base Building$17,28632 launches priced, 49 releases in 12 months
Base Building + Automation$14,08239 launches priced, 83 releases in 12 months
RTS + Base Building$13,91454 launches priced, 61 releases in 12 months
Base Building + Management$12,38472 launches priced, 109 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Base Building$11,53773 launches priced, 109 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Base Building

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.