Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Life Sim + Idler: a typical launch earns $556 in its first year

That is the median of 56 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 5 of 112 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 2.9 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 76% on the year before: 116 against 66.

Price: $556
Price vs a year earlier: −37.3%
Releases, 12 months: 116
Upcoming games: 183
Games on the store: 452

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.

Life Sim + Idler 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	0.03%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.01% to 0.07%	5 ranked of 183 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#6,717 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.37xhits against expected	0.93x to 2.21x	112 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#1,090 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: 5
Expected: 2.9

Launches: 112
Hit rate: 4.5%0.8% to 7.7%
Expected rate: 2.5%
Against expected: 1.37x0.93x to 2.21x

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

112 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: $2
Median: $464
Top tenth: $27,724

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: 116
Prior 12 months: 66

Change: +76%

Parent tags

Life SimGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
IdlerGenre 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 Life Sim

pairs with Life Sim

Life Sim + Cozy$34,02737 launches priced, 66 releases in 12 months
Economy + Life Sim$15,00083 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Open World + Life Sim$13,38736 launches priced, 39 releases in 12 months
Building + Life Sim$12,54245 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
Life Sim + Management$9,996139 launches priced, 204 releases in 12 months
Capitalism + Life Sim$9,99633 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Life Sim

More with Idler

pairs with Idler

Cozy + Idler$3,51835 launches priced, 157 releases in 12 months
Collectathon + Idler$1,77756 launches priced, 144 releases in 12 months
Nature + Idler$1,66633 launches priced, 83 releases in 12 months
Management + Idler$1,48690 launches priced, 270 releases in 12 months
Idler + Creature Collector$1,45476 launches priced, 140 releases in 12 months
Building + Idler$1,44436 launches priced, 59 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Idler

Verdicts

in development

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