Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Space + Arcade: a typical launch earns $101 in its first year

That is the median of 89 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 2 of 171 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 3.8 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 35% on the year before: 135 against 100.

Price: $101
Price vs a year earlier: −50.0%
Releases, 12 months: 135
Upcoming games: 242
Games on the store: 963

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.

Space + Arcade 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.	0.74xhits against expected	0.54x to 1.32x	171 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#4,478 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: 3.8

Launches: 171
Hit rate: 1.2%0.0% to 3.2%
Expected rate: 2.2%
Against expected: 0.74x0.54x to 1.32x

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

171 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: $121
Top tenth: $2,938

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: 135
Prior 12 months: 100

Change: +35%

Parent tags

SpaceNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
ArcadeGenre 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 Space

pairs with Space

Space + Exploration$2,02365 launches priced, 110 releases in 12 months
Space + PvE$80933 launches priced, 38 releases in 12 months
Strategy + Space$70876 launches priced, 140 releases in 12 months
Simulation + Space$55452 launches priced, 154 releases in 12 months
Space + Roguelite$45431 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months
Space + Space Sim$40446 launches priced, 106 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Space

More with Arcade

pairs with Arcade

Co-op + Arcade$1,37646 launches priced, 69 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Twin Stick Shooter$1,01169 launches priced, 100 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Female Protagonist$96168 launches priced, 82 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Local Co-Op$96050 launches priced, 58 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Anime$91052 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Arcade + Difficult$80679 launches priced, 145 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Arcade

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.