Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Story Rich + Investigation: a typical launch earns $8,903 in its first year

That is the median of 70 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 27 of 132 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 15.1 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 25% on the year before: 96 against 77.

Price: $8,903
Price vs a year earlier: +115.9%
Releases, 12 months: 96
Upcoming games: 388
Games on the store: 838

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.

Story Rich + Investigation 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.	0.57%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.38% to 0.79%	66 ranked of 388 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#409 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.66xhits against expected	1.28x to 2.12x	132 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#446 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+22%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−3% to +61%	60 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#704 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+11%review growth against same-age games	0% to +23%	60 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#258 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: 27
Expected: 15.1

Launches: 132
Hit rate: 20.5%11.7% to 28.8%
Expected rate: 11.4%
Against expected: 1.66x1.28x to 2.12x

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

132 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: $405
Median: $4,763
Top tenth: $222,665

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: 96
Prior 12 months: 77

Change: +25%
Against Steam: −9%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

Story RichNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
InvestigationGenre 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 Story Rich

pairs with Story Rich

Story Rich + Narrative$13,10440 launches priced, 59 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Historical$9,68533 launches priced, 53 releases in 12 months
Turn-Based Strategy + Story Rich$8,09741 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Supernatural$5,82533 launches priced, 45 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Dating Sim$5,71476 launches priced, 97 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Hand-drawn$5,46489 launches priced, 127 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Story Rich

More with Investigation

pairs with Investigation

Visual Novel + Investigation$4,88542 launches priced, 55 releases in 12 months
Point & Click + Investigation$4,85753 launches priced, 84 releases in 12 months
Detective + Investigation$3,96395 launches priced, 150 releases in 12 months
Mystery + Investigation$3,336112 launches priced, 171 releases in 12 months
Simulation + Investigation$2,89337 launches priced, 79 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Investigation$2,183117 launches priced, 167 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Investigation

Verdicts

in development

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