The number of indie games that managed to sell at least 500,000 copies within the first month increased from 13 to 33 over the year. This is according to a study by Sensor Tower, prepared for GamesIndustry.biz. Analysts note that the growth was driven not only by cooperative friendslop games but also by original projects from other genres.
In the study, Sensor Tower compared sales of paid games on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox over two periods: from September 2024 to August 2025 and from September 2025 to August 2026. Projects that surpassed the milestone of 500,000 copies sold within the first 30 days after release were considered.
Overall, the number of such games grew from 55 to 76. Their combined sales in the first month increased by 51% to 182.4 million copies.
Main findings of the study:
- The number of successful indie releases grew from 13 to 33. Their share among all games in the sample increased from 24% to 43%. The combined sales of indie hits in the first month rose by 119% to 69.9 million copies.
- New franchises are increasingly successful. The number of first games in new series that surpassed 500,000 copies grew from 21 to 40. Their share reached 53%. Moreover, 35 hits were based on completely new IPs, with 27 of them created by indie studios.
- Friendslop only accounted for part of the growth. The number of successful indie games in this category increased from five to nine. Examples include Meccha Chameleon and RV There Yet?. Meanwhile, the number of hits among other original indie projects rose from 7 to 18. These include Escape from Duckov, Dispatch, and Megabonk.
- The AAA segment maintained its position. The number of successful AAA releases remained almost unchanged—28 compared to 27 the previous year. However, their combined sales in the first month grew by 38% to 87.8 million copies.
- Sensor Tower emphasizes that the rise in the number of successful indie games is not happening at the expense of reducing AAA project sales. On the contrary, the market is able to accommodate more commercially successful releases of various scales.
