Hand-drawn + Female Protagonist: a typical launch earns $2,647 in its first year

That is the median of 35 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 2 of 79 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 6.2 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 33% on the year before: 65 against 49.

One game dominates the figure

Price: $2,647
Price vs a year earlier: +60.0%
Releases, 12 months: 65
Upcoming games: 157
Games on the store: 418

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.

Hand-drawn + Female Protagonist 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.	0.30%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.10% to 0.50%	19 ranked of 157 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#752 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. One game dominates the figure	0.54xhits against expected	0.40x to 0.96x	79 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#5,461 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 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: 2
Expected: 6.2

Launches: 79
Hit rate: 2.5%1.4% to 13.8%
Expected rate: 7.8%
Against expected: 0.54x0.40x to 0.96x

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

79 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: $136
Median: $1,819
Top tenth: $40,633

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: 65
Prior 12 months: 49

Change: +33%

Parent tags

Hand-drawnNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
Female ProtagonistNot 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 Hand-drawn

pairs with Hand-drawn

Story Rich + Hand-drawn$5,46489 launches priced, 127 releases in 12 months
Emotional + Hand-drawn$3,75736 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Hand-drawn$2,418137 launches priced, 233 releases in 12 months
Hand-drawn + Interactive Fiction$2,02244 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months
Visual Novel + Hand-drawn$1,84974 launches priced, 139 releases in 12 months
Exploration + Hand-drawn$1,59566 launches priced, 101 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Hand-drawn

More with Female Protagonist

pairs with Female Protagonist

Hack and Slash + Female Protagonist$10,32730 launches priced, 52 releases in 12 months
JRPG + Female Protagonist$6,70840 launches priced, 47 releases in 12 months
Female Protagonist + Action Roguelike$6,55637 launches priced, 55 releases in 12 months
Mystery + Female Protagonist$5,30753 launches priced, 76 releases in 12 months
Female Protagonist + LGBTQ+$4,85853 launches priced, 86 releases in 12 months
Bullet Hell + Female Protagonist$4,45135 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Female Protagonist

Verdicts

in development

GMD Verdicts will be a written read on a niche, built from the same data and the published method on this site. Join the early list and we will email you when the first ones are ready. Nothing on this page is held back while you wait.