Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Puzzle + Hand-drawn: a typical launch earns $805 in its first year

That is the median of 176 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 19 of 363 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 12.3 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 8% on the year before: 218 against 202.

Price: $805
Price vs a year earlier: −41.4%
Releases, 12 months: 218
Upcoming games: 462
Games on the store: 1,548

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.

Puzzle + Hand-drawn 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	0.11% to 0.57%	35 ranked of 462 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#759 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.44xhits against expected	1.06x to 1.98x	363 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#878 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+40%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	+21% to +62%	107 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#303 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+11%review growth against same-age games	+6% to +18%	107 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#245 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: 19
Expected: 12.3

Launches: 363
Hit rate: 5.2%1.8% to 6.8%
Expected rate: 3.4%
Against expected: 1.44x1.06x to 1.98x

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

363 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: $40
Median: $942
Top tenth: $15,069

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: 218
Prior 12 months: 202

Change: +8%
Against Steam: −20%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

PuzzleGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Hand-drawnNot 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 Puzzle

pairs with Puzzle

Puzzle + Open World$3,68033 launches priced, 31 releases in 12 months
Metroidvania + Puzzle$2,32437 launches priced, 46 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Visual Novel$2,10397 launches priced, 167 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Story Rich$2,000292 launches priced, 408 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Co-op$1,92037 launches priced, 77 releases in 12 months
Puzzle + Dark Humor$1,87830 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Puzzle

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
Hand-drawn + Female Protagonist$2,64735 launches priced, 65 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

Every pair with Hand-drawn

Verdicts

in development

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