Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Action + Puzzle Platformer: a typical launch earns $314 in its first year

That is the median of 154 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 8 of 296 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 16.7 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 20% on the year before: 220 against 183.

Price: $314
Price vs a year earlier: −2.6%
Releases, 12 months: 220
Upcoming games: 604
Games on the store: 1,926

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 + Puzzle Platformer 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.	0.34%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.18% to 0.56%	32 ranked of 604 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#689 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	0.56xhits against expected	0.38x to 0.86x	296 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#5,412 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+17%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−5% to +39%	30 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#843 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+3%review growth against same-age games	−6% to +10%	30 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#699 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: 8
Expected: 16.7

Launches: 296
Hit rate: 2.7%1.7% to 5.4%
Expected rate: 5.6%
Against expected: 0.56x0.38x to 0.86x

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

296 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: $293
Top tenth: $11,433

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: 220
Prior 12 months: 183

Change: +20%
Against Steam: −12%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

ActionNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Puzzle PlatformerGenre 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 Puzzle Platformer

pairs with Puzzle Platformer

Difficult + Puzzle Platformer$1,93634 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Metroidvania + Puzzle Platformer$1,49630 launches priced, 32 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Puzzle Platformer$1,21331 launches priced, 40 releases in 12 months
Funny + Puzzle Platformer$71548 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months
Side Scroller + Puzzle Platformer$66760 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
Retro + Puzzle Platformer$64731 launches priced, 34 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Puzzle Platformer

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.