Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Horror + Emotional: a typical launch earns $896 in its first year

That is the median of 36 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 2 of 82 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 3.2 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 14% on the year before: 50 against 44.

Big publishers: over 85% from majors or $40+ games
China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese

Price: $896
Price vs a year earlier: −43.2%
Releases, 12 months: 50
Upcoming games: 119
Games on the store: 320

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.

Horror + Emotional 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. One game dominates the figure Listed after unflagged rows on this board	0.09%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.03% to 0.19%	14 ranked of 119 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#5,806 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese Big publishers: over 85% from majors or $40+ games Listed after unflagged rows on this board	0.81xhits against expected	0.60x to 1.43x	82 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#6,198 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: 3.2

Launches: 82
Hit rate: 2.4%0.0% to 5.5%
Expected rate: 3.9%
Against expected: 0.81x0.60x to 1.43x

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

82 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: $83
Median: $896
Top tenth: $11,593

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: 50
Prior 12 months: 44

Change: +14%

Parent tags

HorrorGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
EmotionalNot 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 Horror

pairs with Horror

Horror + Co-op$7,08089 launches priced, 127 releases in 12 months
Horror + Online Co-Op$5,819120 launches priced, 169 releases in 12 months
Horror + Multiplayer$5,680106 launches priced, 172 releases in 12 months
Horror + Lovecraftian$3,41850 launches priced, 72 releases in 12 months
Horror + Roguelike$3,33937 launches priced, 73 releases in 12 months
Horror + Text-Based$2,83130 launches priced, 65 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Horror

More with Emotional

pairs with Emotional

Emotional + Hand-drawn$3,75736 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Emotional$3,130121 launches priced, 200 releases in 12 months
Emotional + Multiple Endings$3,03442 launches priced, 72 releases in 12 months
Anime + Emotional$2,67157 launches priced, 94 releases in 12 months
Cute + Emotional$2,67167 launches priced, 92 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Emotional$2,488136 launches priced, 194 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Emotional

Verdicts

in development

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