Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Adventure + Hack and Slash: a typical launch earns $601 in its first year

That is the median of 103 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 13 of 217 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 18.1 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 44% on the year before: 177 against 123.

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

Price: $601
Price vs a year earlier: −4.1%
Releases, 12 months: 177
Upcoming games: 637
Games on the store: 1,550

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.

Adventure + Hack and Slash 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.	1.09%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.41% to 1.93%	66 ranked of 637 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#214 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	0.76xhits against expected	0.54x to 1.09x	217 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#4,366 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+10%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−9% to +38%	49 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,096 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+15%review growth against same-age games	+4% to +27%	49 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#100 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: 13
Expected: 18.1

Launches: 217
Hit rate: 6.0%3.4% to 11.0%
Expected rate: 8.3%
Against expected: 0.76x0.54x to 1.09x

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

217 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: $485
Top tenth: $32,460

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: 177
Prior 12 months: 123

Change: +44%
Against Steam: +5%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

AdventureNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Hack and SlashGenre 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 Adventure

pairs with Adventure

Adventure + Cozy$32,10838 launches priced, 93 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Narrative$12,85033 launches priced, 48 releases in 12 months
Adventure + LGBTQ+$7,36637 launches priced, 54 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Online Co-Op$6,34186 launches priced, 187 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Base Building$5,35342 launches priced, 47 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Building$4,85745 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Adventure

Related niches

pairs with Hack and Slash

Hack and Slash + Female Protagonist$10,32730 launches priced, 52 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Dark Fantasy$3,96244 launches priced, 67 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Dungeon Crawler$2,55377 launches priced, 131 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Roguelite$1,870112 launches priced, 172 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Roguelike$1,870102 launches priced, 145 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Action Roguelike$1,514157 launches priced, 227 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Hack and Slash

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.