Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Puzzle + Word Game: a typical launch earns $425 in its first year

That is the median of 53 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 1 of 120 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 3.5 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 64% on the year before: 118 against 72.

Price: $425
Price vs a year earlier: +15.7%
Releases, 12 months: 118
Upcoming games: 153
Games on the store: 571

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 + Word Game 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. China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese	0.02%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.01% to 0.03%	6 ranked of 153 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#3,335 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	0.62xhits against expected	0.50x to 1.14x	120 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#5,174 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	−11%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−30% to +11%	27 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,782 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	+6%review growth against same-age games	−2% to +16%	27 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#522 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: 1
Expected: 3.5

Launches: 120
Hit rate: 0.8%0.0% to 3.6%
Expected rate: 2.9%
Against expected: 0.62x0.50x to 1.14x

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

120 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: $0
Median: $415
Top tenth: $20,080

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: 118
Prior 12 months: 72

Change: +64%
Against Steam: +20%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

PuzzleGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Word GameGenre 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 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 Word Game

pairs with Word Game

Cute + Word Game$1,78831 launches priced, 59 releases in 12 months
Visual Novel + Word Game$88759 launches priced, 112 releases in 12 months
Word Game + Spelling$84833 launches priced, 58 releases in 12 months
Interactive Fiction + Word Game$79046 launches priced, 89 releases in 12 months
RPG + Word Game$77068 launches priced, 119 releases in 12 months
Adventure + Word Game$73147 launches priced, 65 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Word Game

Verdicts

in development

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