Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Side Scroller + Cartoony: a typical launch earns $343 in its first year

That is the median of 30 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 1 of 63 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 2.6 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 11% on the year before: 39 against 35.

One game dominates the figure

Price: $343
Price vs a year earlier: +31.6%
Releases, 12 months: 39
Upcoming games: 104
Games on the store: 351

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.

Side Scroller + Cartoony 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.	Below this board's minimum sample, so not ranked. Needs 5 or more wishlist-ranked upcoming games.
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. One game dominates the figure	0.72xhits against expected	0.58x to 1.31x	63 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#4,632 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: 1
Expected: 2.6

Launches: 63
Hit rate: 1.6%0.0% to 5.3%
Expected rate: 4.1%
Against expected: 0.72x0.58x to 1.31x

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

63 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: $324
Top tenth: $6,590

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: 39
Prior 12 months: 35

Change: +11%

Parent tags

Side ScrollerNot a genreA theme, mood, feature or presentation tag: never ranked as a market on its own, only inside pairs.
CartoonyNot 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 Side Scroller

pairs with Side Scroller

Metroidvania + Side Scroller$2,22542 launches priced, 38 releases in 12 months
Side Scroller + Female Protagonist$2,18344 launches priced, 48 releases in 12 months
Side Scroller + Difficult$1,56744 launches priced, 53 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + Side Scroller$1,41534 launches priced, 35 releases in 12 months
Side Scroller + Action RPG$1,06132 launches priced, 36 releases in 12 months
Side Scroller + Beat 'em up$81039 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Side Scroller

More with Cartoony

pairs with Cartoony

Story Rich + Cartoony$2,42632 launches priced, 45 releases in 12 months
Visual Novel + Cartoony$1,61731 launches priced, 59 releases in 12 months
Cartoony + Cats$78257 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months
Cartoony + Wholesome$73248 launches priced, 54 releases in 12 months
Cartoony + Cozy$70254 launches priced, 74 releases in 12 months
First-Person + Cartoony$67451 launches priced, 54 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Cartoony

Verdicts

in development

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