Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026
Niches / Casual / Dark Fantasy
Casual + Dark Fantasy: a typical launch earns $364 in its first year
That is the median of 35 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 2 of 82 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 3.4 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 126% on the year before: 97 against 43.
- Price
- $364 median of 35 launches
- Price vs a year earlier
- +80.1% four quarters on the four before
- Releases, 12 months
- 97 43 the year before
- Upcoming games
- 155 coming soon on Steam
- Games on the store
- 444 carrying both tags
Boards
as of 30 Sep 2026Where this pair stands on each board of the front page. Every value carries its 90% interval and its sample.
| Board | Value | Interval | Sample | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most anticipatedShare of all upcoming wishlist heat on Steam, with the number of upcoming games beside it. | 0.08%share of upcoming wishlist heat | 0.04% to 0.12% | 8 ranked of 155 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026 | #2,081 of 7,193pairs on this board |
| Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. | 0.79xhits against expected | 0.58x to 1.39x | 82 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old) | #4,196 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 oldMatured indie paid launches that earned an estimated $100k or more, against the number expected for games at the same price tier and launch quarter.
- Launches
- 82
- Hit rate
- 2.4%0.0% to 5.5%
- Expected rate
- 4.1%
- Against expected
- 0.79x0.58x to 1.39x
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
82 launchesEstimated 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
- $333
- Top tenth
- $16,811
Estimated from Steam review counts. Lifetime to date, so it differs from the first-year price above.
Supply
raw release countsGames released with both tags, last 12 months against the 12 before.
- Change
- +126%
Parent tags
- CasualNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
- Dark FantasyNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Comparable games
8 indie titlesThe 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.
- Slots & Daggers (opens the Steam store)2025 · 7,454 reviews, 93% positiveest. $1.2M
- Mage Arena (opens the Steam store)2025 · 17,821 reviews, 91% positiveest. $1.1M
- Path of Idle: Old Gods Rising (opens the Steam store)2026 · 1,212 reviews, 77% positiveest. $245k
- Alice's Gaze (opens the Steam store)2026 · 832 reviews, 91% positiveest. $67k
- A Tithe in Blood (opens the Steam store)2025 · 196 reviews, 86% positiveest. $59k
- Wild Growth (opens the Steam store)2025 · 516 reviews, 84% positiveest. $52k
- Doomspire (opens the Steam store)2025 · 139 reviews, 54% positiveest. $42k
- Time Survivors (opens the Steam store)2024 · 272 reviews, 61% positiveest. $27k
More with Casual
pairs with Casual- Casual + Job Simulator$8,44230 launches priced, 54 releases in 12 months
- Casual + LGBTQ+$4,15442 launches priced, 95 releases in 12 months
- Casual + Romance$2,61486 launches priced, 137 releases in 12 months
- Casual + Economy$2,204112 launches priced, 302 releases in 12 months
- Casual + Online Co-Op$1,970104 launches priced, 272 releases in 12 months
- Casual + Capitalism$1,92351 launches priced, 130 releases in 12 months
More with Dark Fantasy
pairs with Dark Fantasy- Dark Fantasy + Action Roguelike$4,04545 launches priced, 85 releases in 12 months
- Hack and Slash + Dark Fantasy$3,96244 launches priced, 67 releases in 12 months
- Action-Adventure + Dark Fantasy$3,09649 launches priced, 105 releases in 12 months
- Roguelite + Dark Fantasy$3,01348 launches priced, 122 releases in 12 months
- Adventure + Dark Fantasy$2,83293 launches priced, 207 releases in 12 months
- Action RPG + Dark Fantasy$2,34646 launches priced, 94 releases in 12 months
Verdicts
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