Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Adventure + Narrative: a typical launch earns $12,850 in its first year

That is the median of 33 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 9 of 62 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 6.7 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 14% on the year before: 48 against 42.

Price: $12,850
Price vs a year earlier: +370.4%
Releases, 12 months: 48
Upcoming games: 134
Games on the store: 317

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 + Narrative 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.	0.09%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.06% to 0.12%	16 ranked of 134 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#1,915 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.24xhits against expected	0.87x to 1.81x	62 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#1,579 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: 9
Expected: 6.7

Launches: 62
Hit rate: 14.5%5.2% to 29.7%
Expected rate: 10.8%
Against expected: 1.24x0.87x to 1.81x

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

62 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: $202
Median: $4,135
Top tenth: $165,216

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: 48
Prior 12 months: 42

Change: +14%

Parent tags

AdventureNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
NarrativeNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside 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 + 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
Adventure + Romance$4,31378 launches priced, 112 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Adventure

More with Narrative

pairs with Narrative

Story Rich + Narrative$13,10440 launches priced, 59 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Narrativeno price32 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Narrativeno price24 releases in 12 months
Casual + Narrativeno price23 releases in 12 months
Mystery + Narrativeno price23 releases in 12 months
First-Person + Narrativeno price22 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Narrative

Verdicts

in development

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