Genres

Ticker: price and year-over-year change for 40 genres. Price is the median estimated first-year revenue of indie paid launches. The same figures are on the Genres page.

Text size
Game Market DataSteam market, quoted daily
Live games
191,514
on 30 Sep 2026

Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Niches / Relaxing / Arcade

Relaxing + Arcade: a typical launch earns $181 in its first year

That is the median of 142 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 9 of 300 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 7.4 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 75% on the year before: 275 against 157.

Price
$181
median of 142 launches
Price vs a year earlier
+0.3%
four quarters on the four before
Releases, 12 months
275
157 the year before
Upcoming games
323
coming soon on Steam
Games on the store
1,212
carrying both tags

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.

Relaxing + Arcade on each board
BoardValueIntervalSampleStanding
Most anticipatedShare of all upcoming wishlist heat on Steam, with the number of upcoming games beside it.0.15%share of upcoming wishlist heat0.11% to 0.21%21 ranked of 323 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026#1,283 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.1.16xhits against expected0.80x to 1.76x300 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)#1,933 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.−33%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam−46% to −22%19 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months#2,202 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−22% to −6%19 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025#1,464 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
9
Expected
7.4
Launches
300
Hit rate
3.0%2.0% to 5.8%
Expected rate
2.5%
Against expected
1.16x0.80x to 1.76x

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

300 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
$202
Top tenth
$4,832

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
275
Prior 12 months
157
Change
+75%
Against Steam
+28%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

  • RelaxingNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
  • ArcadeGenre 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 Relaxing

pairs with Relaxing
Every pair with Relaxing

More with Arcade

pairs with Arcade
Every pair with Arcade

Verdicts

in development

GMD Verdicts will be a written read on a niche, built from the same data and the published method on this site. Join the early list and we will email you when the first ones are ready. Nothing on this page is held back while you wait.

Releases

Ticker: 30 upcoming games dated within 90 days, with wishlist rank, release date and followers. The same list is on the Upcoming page.