Adventure + Interactive Fiction: a typical launch earns $846 in its first year

That is the median of 309 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 34 of 626 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 37.1 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 25% on the year before: 485 against 388.

China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese

Price: $846
Price vs a year earlier: −23.2%
Releases, 12 months: 485
Upcoming games: 1,142
Games on the store: 3,094

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 + Interactive Fiction 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.	0.53%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.37% to 0.73%	87 ranked of 1,144 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#446 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese Listed after unflagged rows on this board	0.92xhits against expected	0.72x to 1.19x	626 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#6,124 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	−3% to +25%	111 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,076 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+1%review growth against same-age games	−7% to +9%	111 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#755 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: 34
Expected: 37.1

Launches: 626
Hit rate: 5.4%4.5% to 10.3%
Expected rate: 5.9%
Against expected: 0.92x0.72x to 1.19x

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

626 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: $848
Top tenth: $35,918

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: 485
Prior 12 months: 388

Change: +25%
Against Steam: −8%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.
Interactive FictionGenre 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

More with Interactive Fiction

pairs with Interactive Fiction

Interactive Fiction + FMV$39,86745 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
Cinematic + Interactive Fiction$4,18748 launches priced, 48 releases in 12 months
Interactive Fiction + LGBTQ+$4,04637 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months
Dating Sim + Interactive Fiction$3,15892 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Romance + Interactive Fiction$3,13063 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Interactive Fiction$2,268207 launches priced, 343 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Interactive Fiction

Verdicts

in development

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