Genres

Ticker: price and year-over-year change for 40 genres. Price is the median estimated first-year revenue of indie paid launches. The same figures are on the Genres page.

Text size
Game Market DataSteam market, quoted daily
Live games
191,514
on 30 Sep 2026

Space Sim price

$203

down -62.1%on a year earlier

Launches
109
Window
2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3
Rank
#116 of 126

Median est. first-year revenue of indie paid launches. No price history series is in the site data yet, so there is no chart.

Genre report30 Sep 2026

Space Sim indie launches earn a median $203 in their first year, down 62.1% on a year earlier

Indie launches in Space Sim reached $100k est. revenue 0.62x as often as launches at the same price and in the same quarter across Steam (243 launches).

Space Sim holds 0.45% of the wishlist heat on upcoming Steam games, across 54 ranked upcoming games.

Standing on six boards

Most anticipated

#69 of 133 genres

Share of all wishlist heat on upcoming Steam games, weighted toward dated, near-term releases.

0.45%

90% interval 0.31% to 0.59%

54 ranked upcoming games, wishlist rank 30 Sep 2026

  • 10% of the heat is dated within 90 days.
  • 52% is undated or TBA.
  • 5 long-anticipated pages (top 1,000, public 2+ years).

Total wishlist heat, so big genres lead. Not backtested yet: wishlist-rank history started 30 Sep 2026.

Gaining fast

Week-over-week follower growth of upcoming games.

Collecting since 30 Sep, first readings 13 Oct.

Needs 14 days of daily follower counts. Nothing is estimated before then.

Launch success

#88 of 115 genres

How often indie paid launches reached $100k est. revenue, against the rate expected for their price and launch quarter.

down 0.62x

90% interval 0.43x to 0.95x

243 launches, indie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6-30 months old)

  • 9 of 243 launches reached $100k, against 16.2 expected.

1.0x is par: the hit rate of launches at the same price and in the same quarter across Steam. Indie paid launches 6 to 30 months old.

Fewer new releases

#80 of 105 genres

Player growth against release growth, relative to Steam overall.

down -15.9%

90% interval -33.4% to +4.7%

39 tracked games, Jun to Aug 2026 vs Jun to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months

  • 217 releases in the last 12 months, 134 in the 12 before.
  • Player growth vs same-age games: -0.8%.

Fewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.

Rising demand

#23 of 105 genres

How much faster this genre’s games gained reviews than same-age games elsewhere, year on year.

down -0.8%

90% interval -11.1% to +12.2%

39 tracked games, Jun to Aug 2026 vs Jun to Aug 2025

  • 1,013 reviews in the latest window, 2,041 a year earlier (same games).

Gaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.

Price

#116 of 126 genres

Median est. first-year revenue of indie paid launches over the last four complete quarters.

$203

109 launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3

Estimated from store review counts, so treat it as a level, not an invoice.

Genres are ranked against each other on each board; a "thin" or "too little data" board is left unranked rather than guessed. Every value has its sample size and window beside it.

Top tag pairs

Space Sim + another tag, top 5 per board

Sub-markets inside Space Sim: games carrying both tags in their top ten. Pairs that hold half or more of the genre's games are left out, since they are the genre again. Each pair links to its own page.

Most anticipated

Tag pairValueRanked upcoming games
Sandbox + Space Sim0.23%22
Exploration + Space Sim0.22%25
Open World + Space Sim0.22%15
Sci-fi + Space Sim0.19%22
Flight + Space Sim0.14%15

Launch success

Tag pairValueLaunches
Adventure + Space Simup 1.11x45
Sci-fi + Space Simdown 0.95x71
Casual + Space Simdown 0.91x73
Sandbox + Space Simdown 0.90x41
First-Person + Space Simdown 0.75x30

Fewer new releases

No Space Sim pair meets this board's minimum sample.

Rising demand

No Space Sim pair meets this board's minimum sample.

Upcoming Space Sim games

verified 1 Oct 2026

From the verified release calendar: games tagged Space Sim among their top store tags, each re-checked against the live store page. Wishlist rank and followers carry the date they were read.

None of the 60 verified games on the release calendar carries Space Sim in its top tags right now. Full calendar

Method

methodology v0.7

Revenue figures are estimates from store review counts. Indie means a list price under $40 and not a named major publisher. Board values are computed 1 Oct 2026 from data up to 30 Sep 2026. Validation of the boards against later launches is in progress.

GMD Verdicts

in development

Verdicts will be a written read on a market, built from the same data and the published method. 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.

Releases

Ticker: 30 upcoming games dated within 90 days, with wishlist rank, release date and followers. The same list is on the Upcoming page.