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 / Puzzle

Relaxing + Puzzle: a typical launch earns $424 in its first year

That is the median of 510 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 28 of 1,026 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 32.2 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 28% on the year before: 729 against 569.

Price
$424
median of 510 launches
Price vs a year earlier
−39.5%
four quarters on the four before
Releases, 12 months
729
569 the year before
Upcoming games
966
coming soon on Steam
Games on the store
4,414
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 + Puzzle on each board
BoardValueIntervalSampleStanding
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
1.00%share of upcoming wishlist heat0.35% to 2.23%62 ranked of 968 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026#4,294 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.0.88xhits against expected0.67x to 1.16x1,026 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)#3,538 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.+1%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam−8% to +10%193 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months#1,391 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.−4%review growth against same-age games−9% to +1%193 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025#991 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
28
Expected
32.2
Launches
1,026
Hit rate
2.7%1.9% to 4.5%
Expected rate
3.1%
Against expected
0.88x0.67x to 1.16x

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

1,026 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
$425
Top tenth
$8,339

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
729
Prior 12 months
569
Change
+28%
Against Steam
−6%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.
  • PuzzleGenre 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 Puzzle

pairs with Puzzle
Every pair with Puzzle

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.