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Should I ship a 2D Platformer Party Game?
Party Game + 2D Platformer
Of 71 developers who shipped a 2D Platformer Party 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.. 99 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $420, ×0.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $57k, ×121 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 99 games are announced against 60 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $421 (exactly $421) |
| Top 25% | $2.7k (exactly $2,696) |
| Top 5% | $57k (exactly $57,288) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 71 |
| Released games | 116 |
| Announced | 99 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 down 75% on the market, supply 445% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Party Game
- 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
- Party Game, 2D Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, PvP, Arcade
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Funny, 2D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 2,735 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 99 games are announced against 60 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Party Game with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Board GameFair
- + RhythmFair
- + DeckbuildingFair
- + Card BattlerFair
- + MinigamesPoor odds
- + RoguelitePoor odds
- + RoguelikePoor odds
- + Vehicular CombatPoor odds
- + DestructionPoor odds
- + DrivingPoor odds
- + SurvivalPoor odds
- + HorrorPoor odds
Comparable games
Ultimate Chicken Horse 2016 · $18M 
ROUNDS 2021 · $6.4M 
Super Bunny Man 2023 · $4.6M 
KarmaZoo 2023 · $286k 
Smack Talk 2026 · $156k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 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 |
| | Super Bunny Man | older | $14.99 | 10,143 85% | 304k | $4.6M (exactly $4,561,307) | Catobyte |
| | KarmaZoo | older | $9.99 | 955 88% | 29k | $286k (exactly $286,214) | Pastagames |
| | Smack Talk | $5.99 | 867 96% | 26k | $156k (exactly $155,800) | Monchii Studio | |
 | Levelhead | older | $4.99 | 880 95% | 26k | $132k (exactly $131,736) | Butterscotch Shenanigans |
 | WASD : The Adventure of Tori | $3.99 | 730 83% | 22k | $87k (exactly $87,381) | EVNA Games | |
 | Head's Adventures:chibichibi | $7.99 | 334 97% | 10k | $80k (exactly $80,060) | ManaWanderer | |
 | Knock'Em Out | $7.99 | 239 85% | 7.2k | $57k (exactly $57,288) | BBear Studio | |
 | Royalty Free-For-All | $11.99 | 104 86% | 3.1k | $37k (exactly $37,409) | AAAA Games, LLC | |
 | Heave Ho 2 | $9.99 | 105 90% | 3.2k | $31k (exactly $31,468) | Le Cartel Studio | |
 | Scribble Bots | $6.99 | 116 87% | 3.5k | $24k (exactly $24,325) | Mr Mango Games | |
 | 捣蛋蛙（Croak Squad） | $3.99 | 172 27% | 5.2k | $21k (exactly $20,588) | BonkersLab | |
 | SharedScreen Wagons 2 | $9.99 | 52 98% | 1.6k | $16k (exactly $15,584) | Anti-Ded GameDev | |
 | Which Way Up: Galaxy Games | $14.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $7.2k (exactly $7,195) | Turtle Flip Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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