Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

City Builder + Base Building: a typical launch earns $11,537 in its first year

That is the median of 73 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 41 of 148 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 20.9 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 33% on the year before: 109 against 82.

Price: $11,537
Price vs a year earlier: −61.6%
Releases, 12 months: 109
Upcoming games: 398
Games on the store: 893

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.

City Builder + Base Building 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.	0.95%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.64% to 1.29%	79 ranked of 398 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#237 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.84xhits against expected	1.49x to 2.23x	148 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#265 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	−2%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−23% to +21%	79 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,510 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	−5%review growth against same-age games	−12% to +3%	79 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#1,029 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: 41
Expected: 20.9

Launches: 148
Hit rate: 27.7%21.6% to 39.2%
Expected rate: 14.1%
Against expected: 1.84x1.49x to 2.23x

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

148 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: $118
Median: $10,048
Top tenth: $815,726

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: 109
Prior 12 months: 82

Change: +33%
Against Steam: −3%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

City BuilderGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Base BuildingNot 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 City Builder

pairs with City Builder

Sandbox + City Builder$11,53977 launches priced, 92 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Economy$9,56148 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
Tower Defense + City Builder$8,80032 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Resource Management$8,36456 launches priced, 73 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Management$8,27073 launches priced, 95 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Colony Sim$5,26265 launches priced, 78 releases in 12 months

Every pair with City Builder

More with Base Building

pairs with Base Building

Base Building + Colony Sim$22,86553 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
RPG + Base Building$17,28632 launches priced, 49 releases in 12 months
Base Building + Automation$14,08239 launches priced, 83 releases in 12 months
RTS + Base Building$13,91454 launches priced, 61 releases in 12 months
Base Building + Management$12,38472 launches priced, 109 releases in 12 months
Crafting + Base Building$8,90179 launches priced, 125 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Base Building

Verdicts

in development

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