Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Cute + Incremental: a typical launch earns $401 in its first year

That is the median of 160 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 9 of 307 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 4.5 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 40% on the year before: 275 against 197.

Price: $401
Price vs a year earlier: −28.1%
Releases, 12 months: 275
Upcoming games: 401
Games on the store: 1,148

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.

Cute + Incremental 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.	0.06%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.04% to 0.10%	13 ranked of 401 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#2,273 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.60xhits against expected	1.10x to 2.43x	307 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#555 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	−10%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−25% to +7%	37 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,752 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	−8%review growth against same-age games	−18% to +2%	37 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#1,181 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: 9
Expected: 4.5

Launches: 307
Hit rate: 2.9%1.0% to 5.5%
Expected rate: 1.5%
Against expected: 1.60x1.10x to 2.43x

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

307 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: $0
Median: $421
Top tenth: $10,191

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: 275
Prior 12 months: 197

Change: +40%
Against Steam: +2%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

CuteNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
IncrementalGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best 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 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

Every pair with Cute

More with Incremental

pairs with Incremental

Resource Management + Incremental$1,36246 launches priced, 236 releases in 12 months
Roguelite + Incremental$1,23332 launches priced, 126 releases in 12 months
Collectathon + Incremental$1,13151 launches priced, 139 releases in 12 months
Nature + Incremental$99930 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months
Incremental + Creature Collector$91664 launches priced, 79 releases in 12 months
Management + Incremental$81071 launches priced, 241 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Incremental

Verdicts

in development

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