Third Person + Action-Adventure: a typical launch earns $432 in its first year

That is the median of 190 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 21 of 415 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 35.7 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 19% on the year before: 308 against 258.

Big publishers: over 85% from majors or $40+ games

Price: $432
Price vs a year earlier: +6.9%
Releases, 12 months: 308
Upcoming games: 1,125
Games on the store: 2,454

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.

Third Person + Action-Adventure 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.	3.47%share of upcoming wishlist heat	1.65% to 5.43%	151 ranked of 1,125 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#52 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. Big publishers: over 85% from majors or $40+ games	0.62xhits against expected	0.46x to 0.84x	415 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#5,165 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+23%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	+4% to +42%	105 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#669 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	−2% to +18%	105 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#431 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: 21
Expected: 35.7

Launches: 415
Hit rate: 5.1%3.0% to 7.7%
Expected rate: 8.6%
Against expected: 0.62x0.46x to 0.84x

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

415 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: $363
Top tenth: $15,622

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: 308
Prior 12 months: 258

Change: +19%
Against Steam: −12%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

Third PersonNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Action-AdventureGenre 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 Third Person

pairs with Third Person

Third Person + Female Protagonist$1,82144 launches priced, 74 releases in 12 months
Third Person + Psychological Horror$98132 launches priced, 40 releases in 12 months
Third Person + Sci-fi$80943 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months
Third Person + Immersive Sim$80943 launches priced, 52 releases in 12 months
Open World + Third Person$80863 launches priced, 84 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Third Person$76950 launches priced, 92 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Third Person

More with Action-Adventure

pairs with Action-Adventure

Action-Adventure + VR$6,75746 launches priced, 38 releases in 12 months
Co-op + Action-Adventure$4,36354 launches priced, 57 releases in 12 months
Online Co-Op + Action-Adventure$4,12753 launches priced, 80 releases in 12 months
Action-Adventure + Dark Fantasy$3,09649 launches priced, 105 releases in 12 months
Metroidvania + Action-Adventure$2,86390 launches priced, 117 releases in 12 months
Action-Adventure + Gore$2,02430 launches priced, 18 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Action-Adventure

Verdicts

in development

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