Do I ship it?

Games › Survival › Survival + 2D Fighter

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a 2D Fighter Survival game?

Survival + 2D Fighter

Of 45 developers who shipped a 2D Fighter Survival game in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 48 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $60 in the last 2 years and $89 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 27 developers shipped in the last year and 48 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.1 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 48 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Survival + 2D Fighter
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 45
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $479 → $719 → $300 → $60 → $120 → $210 → $59 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Survival + 2D Fighter: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 45
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $60 (exactly $60)
Top 25% $210 (exactly $210)
Top 5% $7.8k (exactly $7,796)
Developers, 2 yr 45
Released games 132
Announced 48
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $3.99

momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue too few recent games to read momentum, supply 50% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Survival
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
2D Fighter
effort 5 / 10 · low · frame-precise animation and rollback netcode

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Survival, 2D Fighter; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, 2D Platformer, Arcade
Price point
$3.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Side Scroller
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 106 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $60, 1 in 4 over $210, 1 in 20 over $7.7k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Survival with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVStrong odds14 devs · median $74k · 10 announced
  2. + Social DeductionFair31 devs · median $6.2k · 35 announced
  3. + Word GameFair22 devs · median $2.1k · 29 announced
  4. + CatsFair33 devs · median $1.2k · 34 announced
  5. + CollectathonFair77 devs · median $1.0k · 84 announced
  6. + IdlerFair96 devs · median $836 · 99 announced
  7. + Auto BattlerFair79 devs · median $807 · 90 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair101 devs · median $599 · 130 announced
  9. + DogsFair20 devs · median $535 · 19 announced
  10. + Martial ArtsLong shot19 devs · median $419 · 17 announced
  11. + Boomer ShooterLong shot39 devs · median $359 · 32 announced
  12. + DiplomacyPoor odds16 devs · median $100k · 28 announced

All 234 pairs on the Survival page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Spiritfall 2024 · $1.1M Santhai 2022 · $53k Slime Dungeon 2022 · EA · $32k FIGHTING GIRL YURI 2026 · $28k 3D Chess 2016 · $19k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Spiritfall older $19.99 1,844 92% 55k $1.1M (exactly $1,105,847) Gentle Giant
Santhai older $12.99 137 89% 4.1k $53k (exactly $53,389) Hardworker Studio, Rachan Neamprasert
Slime Dungeon · EA older $29.99 36 77% 1.1k $32k (exactly $32,389) Irinkutor
FIGHTING GIRL YURI $29.99 31 54% 930 $28k (exactly $27,891) UMAI NEKO
3D Chess older $4.99 130 52% 3.9k $19k (exactly $19,461) bumblebee
天天地下城 older $4.99 107 97% 3.2k $16k (exactly $16,018) BIFROST CLOUD PTE. LTD.
Skullbreaker $29.99 13 92% 390 $12k (exactly $11,696) Sharkgame
Pixel Pirate older $24.99 14 78% 420 $10k (exactly $10,496) Stas Paty9mkin
Worker Riot older $24.99 11 81% 330 $8.2k (exactly $8,247) Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich
Street karate 3 older $4.99 55 80% 1.7k $8.2k (exactly $8,234) Essential Tactics Games
The Great Axe $19.99 13 84% 390 $7.8k (exactly $7,796) Gamesforgames
Hololive Fantasy Battle $13.00 11 90% 330 $4.3k (exactly $4,290) G-Blossom
Super Miners · EA $9.99 13 92% 390 $3.9k (exactly $3,896) METAGAR
Cat Survivors $4.99 8 87% 240 $1.2k (exactly $1,198) Ibon Studios
Stickman Physics Battle Arena $6.99 2 100% 60 $419 (exactly $419) Kyle Hawks
Curvelicious $0.99 12 91% 360 $356 (exactly $356) Filip Strelec
PSI Masquerade Deadly Wonderland $10.99 1 0% 30 $330 (exactly $330) Mururunsoft
DodgeKill · EA $4.99 2 100% 60 $299 (exactly $299) Kiro & Co, A2onCraft

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.