Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Action + Life Sim: a typical launch earns $630 in its first year

That is the median of 39 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 5 of 74 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 3.6 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 8% on the year before: 54 against 50.

Price: $630
Price vs a year earlier: −85.0%
Releases, 12 months: 54
Upcoming games: 132
Games on the store: 325

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.

Action + Life Sim 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.	0.17%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.08% to 0.26%	18 ranked of 132 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#1,193 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.21xhits against expected	0.82x to 1.93x	74 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#1,730 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: 5
Expected: 3.6

Launches: 74
Hit rate: 6.8%2.7% to 9.0%
Expected rate: 4.9%
Against expected: 1.21x0.82x to 1.93x

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

74 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: $574
Top tenth: $25,583

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: 54
Prior 12 months: 50

Change: +8%

Parent tags

ActionNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Life SimGenre 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 Action

pairs with Action

Action + Mechs$7,85932 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months
Action + Bullet Heaven$6,31331 launches priced, 177 releases in 12 months
Action + Co-op$3,733172 launches priced, 259 releases in 12 months
Action + Team-Based$2,97239 launches priced, 71 releases in 12 months
Action + Metroidvania$2,893107 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Action + Fighting$2,52840 launches priced, 34 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Action

More with Life Sim

pairs with Life Sim

Life Sim + Cozy$34,02737 launches priced, 66 releases in 12 months
Economy + Life Sim$15,00083 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Open World + Life Sim$13,38736 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Building + Life Sim$12,54245 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
Life Sim + Management$9,996139 launches priced, 204 releases in 12 months
Capitalism + Life Sim$9,99633 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Life Sim

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.