Exploration + Walking Simulator: a typical launch earns $1,177 in its first year

That is the median of 417 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 34 of 854 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 29.0 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 20% on the year before: 609 against 506.

Price: $1,177
Price vs a year earlier: −11.3%
Releases, 12 months: 609
Upcoming games: 1,191
Games on the store: 3,422

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.

Exploration + Walking Simulator 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.	0.60%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.41% to 0.84%	97 ranked of 1,191 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#395 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.16xhits against expected	0.90x to 1.49x	854 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#1,944 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+23%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	+8% to +38%	144 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#688 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	+4% to +16%	144 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#392 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: 34
Expected: 29.0

Launches: 854
Hit rate: 4.0%2.2% to 5.6%
Expected rate: 3.4%
Against expected: 1.16x0.90x to 1.49x

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

854 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: $61
Median: $1,097
Top tenth: $17,208

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: 609
Prior 12 months: 506

Change: +20%
Against Steam: −12%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

ExplorationNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Walking SimulatorGenre 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 Exploration

pairs with Exploration

Exploration + Cozy$24,01549 launches priced, 99 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Open World Survival Craft$13,97334 launches priced, 26 releases in 12 months
Driving + Exploration$10,40830 launches priced, 42 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Multiplayer$8,00174 launches priced, 137 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Online Co-Op$7,08069 launches priced, 134 releases in 12 months
Co-op + Exploration$5,14762 launches priced, 101 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Exploration

More with Walking Simulator

pairs with Walking Simulator

Thriller + Walking Simulator$4,18364 launches priced, 94 releases in 12 months
Cinematic + Walking Simulator$3,57532 launches priced, 57 releases in 12 months
Walking Simulator + Supernatural$3,23435 launches priced, 51 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Walking Simulator$2,627119 launches priced, 186 releases in 12 months
Realistic + Walking Simulator$2,122146 launches priced, 187 releases in 12 months
Mystery + Walking Simulator$2,02077 launches priced, 151 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Walking Simulator

Verdicts

in development

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