Games › Sandbox › Sandbox + 2D Platformer
Should I ship a 2D Platformer Sandbox?
Sandbox + 2D Platformer
Of 75 developers who shipped a 2D Platformer Sandbox 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.. 116 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360, ×0.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $60. 116 games are announced against 51 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper, while revenue is up 170% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $359 (exactly $359) |
| Top 25% | $1.3k (exactly $1,347) |
| Top 5% | $52k (exactly $51,536) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 75 |
| Released games | 219 |
| Announced | 116 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 170% on the market, supply 115% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Sandbox
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- 2D Platformer
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sandbox, 2D Platformer; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Exploration, Building
- 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
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $10.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 2,856 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 33 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 116 games are announced against 51 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Sandbox with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FightingStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + CatsFair
- + SportsFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Trading Card GameFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Noita | older | $19.99 | 81,149 95% | 2.4M | $49M (exactly $48,665,055) | Nolla Games |
| | Super Bunny Man | older | $14.99 | 10,143 85% | 304k | $4.6M (exactly $4,561,307) | Catobyte |
| | The Censor DX Edition | $17.99 | 1,467 82% | 44k | $792k (exactly $791,740) | Tiramisu, Big S Studio | |
| | Mosa Lina | older | $7.99 | 2,014 95% | 60k | $483k (exactly $482,756) | Stuffed Wombat, Silkersoft, Lukke, Roll… (Stuffed Wombat, Silkersoft, Lukke, Rollin'Barrel) |
| | Lakeview Cabin Collection | older | $9.99 | 1,599 94% | 48k | $479k (exactly $479,220) | Roope Tamminen |
| | Luna's Fishing Garden | older | $7.99 | 1,689 93% | 51k | $405k (exactly $404,853) | Coldwild Games, illufinch |
| | Space Simulation Toolkit | · EA older | $24.99 | 500 80% | 15k | $375k (exactly $374,850) | Pavel Kudinov |
| | Contraption Maker | older | $12.99 | 922 92% | 28k | $359k (exactly $359,303) | Kevin Ryan |
| | RUBATO | $19.99 | 441 97% | 13k | $264k (exactly $264,468) | dconn | |
| | Smack Studio | older | $14.99 | 522 85% | 16k | $235k (exactly $234,743) | ThirdPixel Interactive |
| | Song's Fantasy | $7.99 | 229 55% | 6.9k | $55k (exactly $54,891) | 南十字座工作室 | |
| | Snacktorio | $7.99 | 215 90% | 6.5k | $52k (exactly $51,536) | ellraiser | |
| | 仙之气 | · EA | $10.99 | 114 74% | 3.4k | $38k (exactly $37,586) | 按键工坊 |
| | Yuma Nest | · EA | $19.99 | 57 89% | 1.7k | $34k (exactly $34,183) | Piokou |
| | Scribble Bots | $6.99 | 116 87% | 3.5k | $24k (exactly $24,325) | Mr Mango Games | |
| | Skyline Urban Story | $6.99 | 106 90% | 3.2k | $22k (exactly $22,228) | PandaUpStudio | |
| | Electrogical | $7.99 | 87 93% | 2.6k | $21k (exactly $20,854) | kinjo | |
| | Football Fictional World Simulator | $14.99 | 24 75% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | keigo0221 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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