Indie Games Make Up 43% of PC and Console Hits in 2026

Indie games now account for 43 percent of premium PC and console hits in the year from September 2025 to August 2026, according to Sensor Tower data republished by GameDev Reports. The analysis defines a hit as a premium title selling more than 500,000 copies in its first 30 days on PlayStation, Steam, and Xbox, and compares that cohort against the prior year. Switch, the Epic Games Store and other PC storefronts, mobile, free-to-play titles, and subscriptions are excluded, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 are omitted because their sales cannot be separated within a shared launcher.

The headline finding is rapid indie growth. The number of hits rose from 55 to 76 overall, with indie hits growing from 13 to 33, accounting for 20 of the 21 additional hits. Indie first-month sales reached 69.9 million copies, a 119 percent increase, lifting their share of hit sales from 26 to 38 percent. AAA hits grew in absolute sales to 87.8 million copies but lost share, falling from 53 to 48 percent, while AA hits held roughly flat at 24.8 million copies. New series made up 53 percent of hits, and new IP titles nearly doubled, with most of that gain coming from independent developers.

Indie hits fall into three categories: low-priced co-op "friendslop" titles, new single-player indie IP such as roguelikes and story games, and indie sequels. Among them, the top-selling indie release was MECCHA CHAMELEON at 13.3 million copies, which the developers later said exceeded 20 million total. The classification methodology relies on manual publisher assignments, and the sample covers only a single year, so trend conclusions should be read with that scope in mind.