Psychological Horror + Action-Adventure: a typical launch earns $1,011 in its first year

That is the median of 143 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 16 of 279 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 12.6 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 17% on the year before: 183 against 157.

Price: $1,011
Price vs a year earlier: −25.3%
Releases, 12 months: 183
Upcoming games: 550
Games on the store: 1,237

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.

Psychological Horror + Action-Adventure 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.	0.29%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.19% to 0.38%	49 ranked of 550 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#783 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.22xhits against expected	0.88x to 1.71x	279 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#1,661 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+34%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	+6% to +65%	44 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#407 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+15%review growth against same-age games	+3% to +28%	44 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#112 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: 16
Expected: 12.6

Launches: 279
Hit rate: 5.7%2.7% to 8.3%
Expected rate: 4.5%
Against expected: 1.22x0.88x to 1.71x

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

279 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: $77
Median: $971
Top tenth: $25,156

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: 183
Prior 12 months: 157

Change: +17%
Against Steam: −14%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

Psychological HorrorGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Action-AdventureGenre 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 Psychological Horror

pairs with Psychological Horror

Co-op + Psychological Horror$5,48140 launches priced, 49 releases in 12 months
Psychological Horror + Cinematic$5,00947 launches priced, 58 releases in 12 months
Psychological Horror + Online Co-Op$4,64950 launches priced, 63 releases in 12 months
Psychological Horror + Multiplayer$4,45153 launches priced, 67 releases in 12 months
Psychological Horror + Story Rich$3,335269 launches priced, 401 releases in 12 months
Psychological Horror + Female Protagonist$2,91976 launches priced, 102 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Psychological Horror

More with Action-Adventure

pairs with Action-Adventure

Action-Adventure + VR$6,75746 launches priced, 38 releases in 12 months
Co-op + Action-Adventure$4,36354 launches priced, 57 releases in 12 months
Online Co-Op + Action-Adventure$4,12753 launches priced, 80 releases in 12 months
Action-Adventure + Dark Fantasy$3,09649 launches priced, 105 releases in 12 months
Metroidvania + Action-Adventure$2,86390 launches priced, 117 releases in 12 months
Action-Adventure + Gore$2,02430 launches priced, 18 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Action-Adventure

Verdicts

in development

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