Idler games on Steam, measured
Games that keep progressing while the player is away: the numbers go up.
940 games tagged Idler came out on Steam in 2025 (572 in 2024), and 1,566 have come out so far in 2026, +150% on the same weeks of 2025.
Of the 967 released between Jan 1, 2024 and Jun 30, 2025, 5.6% reached 1,000 reviews, against 4.2% across all of Steam (1.3× the Steam rate).
Most of the niche prices itself under $5 (2.5% reached 1,000 reviews there); $10 to $14.99 did best at 16.1%.
2,625 more Idler pages are on Steam but not released yet, 314 of them dated within 90 days.
Counted game by game from Steam's store on Sep 27, 2026. How we counted, and what the numbers can't tell you.
How fast the niche is filling
Games tagged Idler released each year. 2026 is counted to Sep 27, 2026; the same weeks of 2025 saw 626.
How its games did
Games released Jan 1, 2024 to Jun 30, 2025, so every one has been on sale at least 14 months, against every Steam game released in the same window. Reaching 1,000 reviews is the usual rule of thumb for roughly $150,000 in gross revenue; 100 reviews is real traction.
| Idler | All of Steam | |
|---|---|---|
| Games released | 967 | 24,918 |
| Reached 10 reviews | 63.7% | 53.2% |
| Reached 100 reviews | 23.9% | 17.3% |
| Reached 1,000 reviews | 5.6%95% range 4.3% to 7.2% | 4.2% |
| Median reviews | 22 | 11 |
| Median list price (paid games) | $3.99 | $4.99 |
| Free to play | 26.1% | 17.7% |
Price and outcome
The same cohort by undiscounted US list price on the day we counted. Higher prices go with bigger teams and more content, and a game that cut its price after a weak launch now sits in a cheaper band, so read this as what games priced like yours did, not as proof that raising a price lifts sales.
| Price | Games | 100+ reviews | 1,000+ reviews | Median reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $5 | 518 | 12.2% | 2.5%1.5% to 4.2% | under 10 |
| $5 to $9.99 | 150 | 40% | 10%6.2% to 15.8% | 46 |
| $10 to $14.99 | 31 | 51.6% | 16.1%7.1% to 32.6% | 114 |
| $15 to $19.99 | 9 | — | — | — |
| $20 and up | 7 | — | — | — |
— fewer than 20 games, too few to compare.
Sub-niches: where the odds and the crowding differ
Other tags that appear in the top seven tags of Idler games. Tags that describe a look or a platform (Pixel Graphics, Singleplayer) are left out. Players add tags to games that are already popular, so narrow tags flatter their hit rates: compare sub-niches with each other, not with Steam.
Best odds
- Cozy: 21.1% reached 1,000 reviews (38 games)
- Resource Management: 19.5% reached 1,000 reviews (41 games)
- Automation: 13.6% reached 1,000 reviews (66 games)
Filling fastest in 2026
- Desktop Companion: 136 so far vs 19 (+616%)*
- Resource Management: 128 so far vs 28 (+357%)
- Crafting: 50 so far vs 11 (+355%)
| Tag | Games (2024–2025 cohort) | 1,000+ reviews | 100+ reviews | 2026 so far vs 2025 | Unreleased |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incremental | 358 | 6.7%4.5% to 9.8% | 27.7% | 801 vs 225+256% | 1,395 |
| Point & Click | 125 | 3.2%1.3% to 7.9% | 13.6% | 140 vs 73+92% | 169 |
| Automation | 66 | 13.6%7.3% to 23.9% | 42.4% | 178 vs 46+287% | 305 |
| Arcade | 85 | 3.5%1.2% to 9.9% | 20% | 158 vs 53+198% | 252 |
| Management | 66 | 12.1%6.3% to 22.1% | 37.9% | 157 vs 57+175% | 266 |
| Auto Battler | 70 | 7.1%3.1% to 15.7% | 31.4% | 130 vs 38+242% | 251 |
| Creature Collector | 87 | 8%4% to 15.7% | 29.9% | 100 vs 62+61% | 172 |
| Sandbox | 83 | 6%2.6% to 13.3% | 22.9% | 95 vs 53+79% | 176 |
| Resource Management | 41 | 19.5%10.2% to 34% | 46.3% | 128 vs 28+357% | 232 |
| Collectathon | 75 | 1.3%0.2% to 7.2% | 25.3% | 92 vs 43+114% | 137 |
| Desktop Companion* | 18 | — | — | 136 vs 19+616% | 224 |
| Cozy | 38 | 21.1%11.1% to 36.3% | 44.7% | 107 vs 36+197% | 209 |
| Life Sim | 65 | 7.7%3.3% to 16.8% | 16.9% | 74 vs 44+68% | 140 |
| Economy | 46 | 8.7%3.4% to 20.3% | 23.9% | 89 vs 31+187% | 140 |
| Time Management | 54 | 1.9%0.3% to 9.8% | 16.7% | 73 vs 37+97% | 93 |
| Farming Sim | 43 | 9.3%3.7% to 21.6% | 18.6% | 81 vs 36+125% | 132 |
| Puzzle | 64 | 1.6%0.3% to 8.3% | 12.5% | 42 vs 27+56% | 71 |
| Roguelite | 28 | 3.6%0.6% to 17.7% | 25% | 71 vs 21+238% | 122 |
| Utilities | 33 | 9.1%3.1% to 23.6% | 30.3% | 65 vs 33+97% | 67 |
| Tower Defense | 30 | 3.3%0.6% to 16.7% | 33.3% | 65 vs 16+306% | 111 |
| Roguelike | 29 | 3.4%0.6% to 17.2% | 24.1% | 47 vs 23+104% | 88 |
| Crafting | 23 | 4.3%0.8% to 21% | 39.1% | 50 vs 11+355% | 101 |
| Cats | 28 | 7.1%2% to 22.6% | 21.4% | 43 vs 20+115% | 52 |
| Nature | 32 | 0%0% to 10.7% | 21.9% | 36 vs 23+57% | 57 |
— fewer than 20 games in the cohort. Ranges are 95% intervals. * Steam added this tag in its May 2026 tag overhaul, so part of its growth is developers adopting the new label, not only new games.
What broke through in the last 12 months
The most-reviewed Idler games released since Sep 27, 2025. Still young, so these counts are still climbing.
- IdleOn - The Incremental MMO21,812 reviews, 75% positive · Free · Nov 6, 2025
- TBH: Task Bar Hero8,435 reviews, 62% positive · Free · May 27, 2026
- Scritchy Scratchy8,332 reviews, 95% positive · $6.99 · Mar 18, 2026
- Berry Bury Berry6,346 reviews, 98% positive · $7.99 · Jan 29, 2026
- Bills Must Be Paid5,003 reviews, 96% positive · $6.99 · Jul 29, 2026
- Upload Labs4,880 reviews, 90% positive · Free · Oct 3, 2025
- Shelldiver4,761 reviews, 98% positive · $4.99 · Nov 16, 2025
- The Farmer Was Replaced4,245 reviews, 95% positive · $9.99 · Oct 10, 2025
What's coming
2,625 Idler pages are live on Steam but not released: 314 with a date in the next 90 days, 789 with a later date, month or quarter, and 1,522 saying "Coming soon" or "To be announced". For comparison, 940 came out in all of 2025.
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Related niches
How we counted, and what the numbers can't tell you
- Every game carrying Steam's Idler tag (tag id 615955), read page by page from Steam's public store search on Sep 27, 2026: 6,747 games, 4,122 of them released (Steam's own released count: 4,120). Games only: no DLC, soundtracks or software.
- Success rates use one fixed cohort, games released Jan 1, 2024 to Jun 30, 2025, because review counts grow with age: a game from last month has not had time to reach 1,000 reviews, and comparing it with a 2024 game would measure age, not success.
- Review counts are the totals Steam's search shows a US visitor, which may count English-language reviews only. Steam prints no count under 10 reviews, so "under 10" is as precise as the data gets. Prices are the undiscounted US list price on the day we counted, not the launch price: a game that cut its price after launch counts at the new price.
- Tags are community tags. Players add them to games that are already popular, which flatters the hit rates of narrow tags. Delisted games and age-restricted games are not in Steam's default search, so they are not here either.
- "Reached 1,000 reviews" is a proxy for commercial success (roughly $150,000 gross by the common rule of thumb), not a revenue figure. We publish no revenue estimates.
- The full aggregate is public: /api/niches/data. Cite it as "Steam Niche Index, Steam Page Analyzer, September 2026".