Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Adventure + Story Rich: a typical launch earns $2,021 in its first year

That is the median of 601 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 113 of 1,153 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 108.4 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 19% on the year before: 865 against 725.

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

Price: $2,021
Price vs a year earlier: −16.8%
Releases, 12 months: 865
Upcoming games: 3,037
Games on the store: 7,852

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 + Story Rich 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.	9.71%share of upcoming wishlist heat	6.01% to 14.81%	423 ranked of 3,038 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#17 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	1.04xhits against expected	0.90x to 1.20x	1,153 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#2,549 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+20%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	+10% to +32%	445 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#752 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+6%review growth against same-age games	0% to +10%	445 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#553 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: 113
Expected: 108.4

Launches: 1,153
Hit rate: 9.8%8.0% to 14.6%
Expected rate: 9.4%
Against expected: 1.04x0.90x to 1.20x

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

1,153 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: $40
Median: $1,858
Top tenth: $97,937

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: 865
Prior 12 months: 725

Change: +19%
Against Steam: −12%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.
Story RichNot 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 + 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 Story Rich

pairs with Story Rich

Story Rich + Narrative$13,10440 launches priced, 59 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Historical$9,68533 launches priced, 53 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Investigation$8,90370 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Turn-Based Strategy + Story Rich$8,09741 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Supernatural$5,82533 launches priced, 45 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Dating Sim$5,71476 launches priced, 97 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Story Rich

Verdicts

in development

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