Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Tower Defense + City Builder: a typical launch earns $8,800 in its first year

That is the median of 32 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 13 of 65 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 5.4 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 23% on the year before: 43 against 35.

Price: $8,800
Price vs a year earlier: +1514.9%
Releases, 12 months: 43
Upcoming games: 147
Games on the store: 302

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.

Tower Defense + City Builder 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. One game dominates the figure Listed after unflagged rows on this board	0.34%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.16% to 0.66%	20 ranked of 147 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#4,701 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter.	1.90xhits against expected	1.37x to 2.61x	65 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#219 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: 13
Expected: 5.4

Launches: 65
Hit rate: 20.0%12.7% to 29.1%
Expected rate: 8.4%
Against expected: 1.90x1.37x to 2.61x

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: $105
Median: $4,045
Top tenth: $457,277

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: 43
Prior 12 months: 35

Change: +23%

Parent tags

Tower DefenseGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
City BuilderGenre 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 Tower Defense

pairs with Tower Defense

Tower Defense + Base Building$2,00381 launches priced, 129 releases in 12 months
Tower Defense + Survival$1,61947 launches priced, 68 releases in 12 months
Tower Defense + Roguelite$1,516109 launches priced, 196 releases in 12 months
Tower Defense + Roguelike$1,17390 launches priced, 163 releases in 12 months
Tower Defense + Resource Management$1,13335 launches priced, 71 releases in 12 months
Tower Defense + Bullet Hell$1,13337 launches priced, 75 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Tower Defense

More with City Builder

pairs with City Builder

Sandbox + City Builder$11,53977 launches priced, 92 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Base Building$11,53773 launches priced, 109 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Economy$9,56148 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Resource Management$8,36456 launches priced, 73 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Management$8,27073 launches priced, 95 releases in 12 months
City Builder + Colony Sim$5,26265 launches priced, 78 releases in 12 months

Every pair with City Builder

Verdicts

in development

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