Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Sandbox + Top-Down: a typical launch earns $424 in its first year

That is the median of 32 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 4 of 65 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 3.7 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 74% on the year before: 61 against 35.

China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese

Price: $424
Price vs a year earlier: −78.1%
Releases, 12 months: 61
Upcoming games: 221
Games on the store: 431

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.

Sandbox + Top-Down 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.	0.51%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.30% to 0.80%	20 ranked of 221 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#466 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese Listed after unflagged rows on this board	1.04xhits against expected	0.71x to 1.70x	65 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#6,041 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	Below this board's minimum sample, so not ranked. Needs 15 or more tracked games and 20 or more releases in each 12-month period.
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	Below this board's minimum sample, so not ranked. Needs 15 or more tracked games and 1,000 reviews in each window.

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: 4
Expected: 3.7

Launches: 65
Hit rate: 6.2%0.0% to 10.6%
Expected rate: 5.8%
Against expected: 1.04x0.71x to 1.70x

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

65 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: $8
Median: $546
Top tenth: $34,977

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: 61
Prior 12 months: 35

Change: +74%

Parent tags

SandboxGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Top-DownNot 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 Sandbox

pairs with Sandbox

Sandbox + Multiplayer$32,53338 launches priced, 71 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Resource Management$18,39749 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Economy$15,26966 launches priced, 136 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Management$11,910116 launches priced, 204 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + City Builder$11,53977 launches priced, 92 releases in 12 months
Sandbox + Colony Sim$10,01834 launches priced, 53 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Sandbox

More with Top-Down

pairs with Top-Down

Wargame + Top-Down$1,70031 launches priced, 51 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Top-Down$1,55732 launches priced, 37 releases in 12 months
Top-Down + Female Protagonist$1,09231 launches priced, 50 releases in 12 months
Twin Stick Shooter + Top-Down$1,01140 launches priced, 58 releases in 12 months
Roguelike + Top-Down$707143 launches priced, 271 releases in 12 months
RTS + Top-Down$68543 launches priced, 75 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Top-Down

Verdicts

in development

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