Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026
Cooking + Cute: a typical launch earns $655 in its first year
That is the median of 39 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 10 of 86 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 6.8 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 61% on the year before: 74 against 46.
- Price
- $655 median of 39 launches
- Price vs a year earlier
- −74.7% four quarters on the four before
- Releases, 12 months
- 74 46 the year before
- Upcoming games
- 191 coming soon on Steam
- Games on the store
- 394 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. | 0.05%share of upcoming wishlist heat | 0.04% to 0.07% | 15 ranked of 191 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026 | #2,469 of 7,193pairs on this board |
| Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. | 1.33xhits against expected | 0.93x to 1.93x | 86 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old) | #1,253 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
- 86
- Hit rate
- 11.6%4.8% to 20.0%
- Expected rate
- 7.9%
- Against expected
- 1.33x0.93x to 1.93x
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
86 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
- $64
- Median
- $1,972
- Top tenth
- $109,522
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
- +61%
Parent tags
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.
- Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings™ Game (opens the Steam store)2025 · 3,251 reviews, 81% positiveest. $2.3M
- Creature Kitchen (opens the Steam store)2026 · 9,172 reviews, 99% positiveest. $1.5M
- Cuisineer (opens the Steam store)2023 · 1,824 reviews, 76% positiveest. $923k
- Feed the Cups (opens the Steam store)2024 · 4,718 reviews, 72% positiveest. $893k
- Galaxy Burger (opens the Steam store)2024 · 2,460 reviews, 96% positiveest. $562k
- Fruitbus (opens the Steam store)2024 · 968 reviews, 86% positiveest. $490k
- Coffee Caravan (opens the Steam store)2024 · 1,401 reviews, 92% positiveest. $340k
- Beastro (opens the Steam store)2026 · 608 reviews, 92% positiveest. $246k
More with Cooking
pairs with Cooking- Cooking + Management$8,23544 launches priced, 75 releases in 12 months
- Cooking + Immersive Sim$5,86730 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
- Cooking + Time Management$2,66937 launches priced, 61 releases in 12 months
- Simulation + Cooking$2,16182 launches priced, 171 releases in 12 months
- Cooking + 3D$1,15043 launches priced, 74 releases in 12 months
- Casual + Cooking$60689 launches priced, 174 releases in 12 months
More with Cute
pairs with Cute- Open World + Cute$5,88634 launches priced, 33 releases in 12 months
- Cute + Romance$5,22277 launches priced, 90 releases in 12 months
- Story Rich + Cute$3,396163 launches priced, 188 releases in 12 months
- Cute + LGBTQ+$2,97434 launches priced, 56 releases in 12 months
- Psychological Horror + Cute$2,84651 launches priced, 66 releases in 12 months
- Visual Novel + Cute$2,798212 launches priced, 288 releases in 12 months
Verdicts
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