Tag pairdata 30 Sep 2026

Tower Defense + PvE: a typical launch earns $303 in its first year

That is the median of 48 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 4 of 109 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 5.3 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 68% on the year before: 99 against 59.

One game dominates the figure

Price: $303
Price vs a year earlier: −25.0%
Releases, 12 months: 99
Upcoming games: 263
Games on the store: 602

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 + PvE 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	0.02%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.01% to 0.04%	7 ranked of 263 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#6,897 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. One game dominates the figure	0.85xhits against expected	0.58x to 1.41x	109 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#3,774 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: 5.3

Launches: 109
Hit rate: 3.7%0.8% to 9.7%
Expected rate: 4.8%
Against expected: 0.85x0.58x to 1.41x

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

109 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: $304
Top tenth: $15,153

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: 99
Prior 12 months: 59

Change: +68%

Parent tags

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

pairs with Tower Defense

Tower Defense + City Builder$8,80032 launches priced, 43 releases in 12 months
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

Every pair with Tower Defense

More with PvE

pairs with PvE

Co-op + PvE$16,63155 launches priced, 88 releases in 12 months
Online Co-Op + PvE$5,26063 launches priced, 100 releases in 12 months
Multiplayer + PvE$2,00370 launches priced, 120 releases in 12 months
PvE + Deckbuilding$1,11233 launches priced, 40 releases in 12 months
Dungeon Crawler + PvE$1,06262 launches priced, 97 releases in 12 months
Hack and Slash + PvE$1,06166 launches priced, 101 releases in 12 months

Every pair with PvE

Verdicts

in development

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