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Should I ship a Local Multiplayer 2D Platformer?
Local Multiplayer + 2D Platformer
Of 165 developers who shipped a Local Multiplayer 2D Platformer 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.. 221 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $31k, ×66 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 221 games are announced against 90 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $899 (exactly $899) |
| Top 25% | $5.1k (exactly $5,090) |
| Top 5% | $31k (exactly $31,468) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 165 |
| Released games | 544 |
| Announced | 221 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 down 55% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Local Multiplayer
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- 2D Platformer
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Local Multiplayer, 2D Platformer; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Local Co-Op, Platformer
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 17,711 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 85 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 221 games are announced against 90 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Local Multiplayer with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + HockeyStrong odds
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Action RPGFair
- + Hex GridFair
- + ModernFair
- + WargameFair
- + TennisFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + SportsFair
- + RunnerFair
Comparable games
BattleBlock Theater® 2014 · $25M 
Ultimate Chicken Horse 2016 · $18M 
ROUNDS 2021 · $6.4M 
Rivals of Aether II 2024 · $6.3M 
UFO 50 2024 · $5.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BattleBlock Theater® | older | $14.99 | 55,793 97% | 1.7M | $25M (exactly $25,090,112) | The Behemoth |
| | Ultimate Chicken Horse | older | $14.99 | 41,060 95% | 1.2M | $18M (exactly $18,464,682) | Clever Endeavour Games |
| | ROUNDS | older | $5.99 | 35,738 95% | 1.1M | $6.4M (exactly $6,422,119) | Landfall |
| | Rivals of Aether II | $29.99 | 6,980 78% | 209k | $6.3M (exactly $6,279,906) | Aether Studios | |
| | UFO 50 | $24.99 | 7,134 94% | 214k | $5.3M (exactly $5,348,360) | Mossmouth | |
 | Super Bunny Man | older | $14.99 | 10,143 85% | 304k | $4.6M (exactly $4,561,307) | Catobyte |
 | Door Kickers: Action Squad | older | $13.99 | 8,778 95% | 263k | $3.7M (exactly $3,684,127) | PixelShard, KillHouse Games |
 | SONIC SUPERSTARS | older | $39.99 | 2,963 68% | 89k | $3.6M (exactly $3,554,711) | SEGA |
 | Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy | older | $29.99 | 2,524 89% | 76k | $2.3M (exactly $2,270,843) | Frozenbyte |
 | Bread & Fred | older | $14.99 | 4,217 79% | 127k | $1.9M (exactly $1,896,385) | SandCastles Studio |
 | Iron Meat | $19.99 | 982 96% | 29k | $589k (exactly $588,905) | Ivan Valeryevich Suvorov, Retroware | |
 | Windswept | $19.99 | 470 92% | 14k | $282k (exactly $281,859) | WeatherFell | |
 | Level Devil | $6.99 | 1,304 91% | 39k | $273k (exactly $273,449) | Unept | |
 | Super Alloy Crush | · EA | $11.99 | 194 90% | 5.8k | $70k (exactly $69,782) | Alloy Mushroom |
 | Stuck Together | $11.99 | 161 88% | 4.8k | $58k (exactly $57,912) | Hugecalf Studios | |
 | Chaos Faction Legacy Collection | $4.99 | 234 93% | 7.0k | $35k (exactly $35,030) | George "EON" Eade | |
 | Heave Ho 2 | $9.99 | 105 90% | 3.2k | $31k (exactly $31,468) | Le Cartel Studio | |
 | Wirm | $6.99 | 147 93% | 4.4k | $31k (exactly $30,826) | Sbug Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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