The Indie Games market doesn't publish quarterly earnings. But five years of launch data paints a comparable picture. 102 products, engagement trends, and the names that rose above the noise.
Five years of Indie Games launch data. Volume, engagement, and the products that stood out.
The Indie Games market doesn't publish quarterly earnings. But five years of launch data paints a comparable picture. 102 products, engagement trends, and the names that rose above the noise.
| Quarter | Launches | Avg Interest Score | Top Product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 4 | 113 | Too Many Buttons |
| Q1 2025 | 4 | 148 | Keepy Uppy |
| Q2 2025 | 5 | 21 | Hangin' Man |
| Q3 2025 | 3 | 145 | The HTML Maze |
| Q4 2025 | 3 | 62 | Orca |
| Q1 2024 | 9 | 120 | 3DAiLY Beta |
| Q2 2024 | 2 | 83 | Train |
| Q3 2024 | 6 | 190 | Focumon (Buildspace S5) |
| Q1 2023 | 6 | 82 | Not Evil Sudoku |
| Q2 2023 | 4 | 84 | Wingspan |
| Q4 2023 | 9 | 90 | Sidecade |
| Q1 2022 | 13 | 95 | Wordle |
| Q2 2022 | 2 | 103 | Moonshot |
| Q3 2022 | 5 | 72 | that's a cow |
| Q4 2022 | 11 | 73 | Factle Sports |
| Q2 2021 | 2 | 112 | Indie Kit Space |
The Indie Games category has been cooling over the past 6 years of tracked data. Total launches went from 16 in 2021 to 4 in 2026.
Average engagement ratio across all Indie Games launches: 0.20. Products above that line tend to solve a specific, painful problem. Products below it often entered a crowded space without clear differentiation.
Indie Games peaked in 2022 with 31 launches. That was 4 years ago. The decline since then could signal market consolidation, saturation, or attention shifting to adjacent categories.
Average engagement per product has risen from 0.13 in 2021 to 0.19 in 2026. That upward trend means the community is spending more time with each new launch. Either the products are getting better, or the audience is getting more selective. Probably both.
The highest-performing quarter was Q3 2024, with an average interest score of 190 across 6 launches. Focumon (Buildspace S5) led that quarter.
24 B2B launches (23%) vs 78 B2C (77%) across the full Indie Games dataset. Indie Games leans consumer. Most products target individual users rather than teams or companies.
2021: 16 launches. Average interest: 88. Average engagement: 0.13. Top launch: Ramayana Capital (145 interest).
2022: 31 launches (+94% vs 2021). Average interest: 84. Average engagement: 0.18. Top launch: Wordle (294 interest).
2023: 19 launches (-39% vs 2022). Average interest: 86. Average engagement: 0.15. Top launch: Not Evil Sudoku (127 interest).
2024: 17 launches (-11% vs 2023). Average interest: 140. Average engagement: 0.21. Top launch: Focumon (Buildspace S5) (589 interest).
2025: 15 launches (-12% vs 2024). Average interest: 88. Average engagement: 0.34. Top launch: The HTML Maze (271 interest).
2026: 4 launches (-73% vs 2025). Average interest: 113. Average engagement: 0.19. Top launch: Too Many Buttons (122 interest).
Volume without engagement is saturation. Engagement without volume is opportunity. Check which one you're looking at.
Sum of all interest scores in the quarter divided by number of products. Simple average. We don't weight by category or product age.
Depends on what's declining. If volume drops but engagement rises, the market is maturing. That's often good for existing players. If both drop, the category may be dying. The quarterly breakdown on each page tells you which pattern you're seeing.
At least three. Two data points is a line, not a trend. We have five years of data for most categories, which is enough to distinguish real shifts from noise.
Current year launches compared to the same period last year. Positive means more products launching. Negative means the category cooled. Neither is inherently good or bad. A mature category with fewer but better launches is often healthier than one flooding the market with clones.
Launch volume drops but engagement per product rises. Fewer builders entering, but the ones that do find a more receptive audience. That's an opportunity signal. We flag it when we see it.
We report what happened. We don't predict. Five years of data shows patterns, but markets surprise people for a living.