Do I ship it?

Games › Base Building › Base Building + 2D Platformer

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a 2D Platformer Base Building game?

Base Building + 2D Platformer

Of 38 developers who shipped a 2D Platformer Base Building 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.. 78 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $480 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 17 developers shipped in the last year and 78 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.8 times the market baseline, revenue up 140% on the market, 78 announced, ×4.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Base Building + 2D Platformer
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 38
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $60 → $450 → $300 → $210 → $1.2k → $360 → $2.3k (still earning) → $120 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Base Building + 2D Platformer: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 38
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $479 (exactly $479)
Top 25% $2.3k (exactly $2,308)
Top 5% $328k (exactly $327,910)
Developers, 2 yr 38
Released games 107
Announced 78
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 up 140% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, 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 medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Base Building
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
2D Platformer
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Base Building, 2D Platformer; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Simulation, Strategy
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $10.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Cute
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $10.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 85% positive over 2,585 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 $480, 1 in 4 over $2.3k, 1 in 20 over $320k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. Nearly all of the 23 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 78 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + ProgrammingFair13 devs · median $53k · 21 announced
  2. + DwarvesFair12 devs · median $13k · 19 announced
  3. + Bullet HellFair61 devs · median $540 · 67 announced
  4. + DiplomacyPoor odds19 devs · median $520k · 47 announced
  5. + SailingPoor odds9 devs · median $356k · 38 announced
  6. + Dating SimPoor odds19 devs · median $128k · 21 announced
  7. + TrainsPoor odds19 devs · median $113k · 47 announced
  8. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds20 devs · median $73k · 35 announced
  9. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds130 devs · median $72k · 262 announced
  10. + UndergroundPoor odds12 devs · median $65k · 71 announced
  11. + MarsPoor odds15 devs · median $58k · 28 announced
  12. + HistoricalPoor odds81 devs · median $58k · 175 announced

All 175 pairs on the Base Building page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Regions Of Ruin 2018 · $709k Actraiser Renaissance 2021 · $637k Dinotica 2026 · $403k BM General Hospital 2025 · $328k Ares Virus2 2022 · $235k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Regions Of Ruin older $11.99 1,972 84% 59k $709k (exactly $709,328) Gameclaw Studio
Actraiser Renaissance older $29.99 708 74% 21k $637k (exactly $636,988) Square Enix, Sonic Powered
Dinotica $17.99 746 86% 22k $403k (exactly $402,616) XA Studio
BM General Hospital $7.99 1,368 86% 41k $328k (exactly $327,910) zzzgame
Ares Virus2 older $18.99 412 64% 12k $235k (exactly $234,716) 热区网络
Dong-Jin Rice-hime（東津萌米） older $19.99 352 90% 11k $211k (exactly $211,094) STORIA, Narrator, SimonCreative
Dwarfs!? older $9.99 644 79% 19k $193k (exactly $193,007) Power of 2
Mr. Sun's Hatbox older $14.99 412 85% 12k $185k (exactly $185,276) Kenny Sun
Smelter older $19.99 165 64% 5.0k $99k (exactly $98,950) X PLUS Co., Ltd.
Jumbo Airport Story older $8.99 355 89% 11k $96k (exactly $95,744) Kairosoft Co.,Ltd
Snacktorio $7.99 215 90% 6.5k $52k (exactly $51,536) ellraiser
Legends of Heropolis DX $10.99 68 42% 2.0k $22k (exactly $22,420) Kairosoft Co.,Ltd
Whispers in the Forest · EA $16.99 17 64% 510 $8.7k (exactly $8,665) Atzi Games Team
Blueprint Bob $6.99 18 100% 540 $3.8k (exactly $3,775) Alexander Lahti, Suumpmolk, The LoFi Bo… (Alexander Lahti, Suumpmolk, The LoFi Boi, MrMusicGuy)
DiDiDiG $8.99 13 100% 390 $3.5k (exactly $3,506) ISIT Studio
双雄风流传（Romantic Emperor） $2.18 53 86% 1.6k $3.5k (exactly $3,466) Turtle game
Priceless Return $0.99 80 81% 2.4k $2.4k (exactly $2,376) Home
StarMoon Forest · EA $10.99 7 14% 210 $2.3k (exactly $2,308) VC Power Studio

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