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Should I ship a 3D Platformer Sandbox?
Sandbox + 3D Platformer
Of 122 developers who shipped a 3D 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.. 208 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 70 developers shipped in the last year and 208 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $2.2k (exactly $2,158) |
| Top 5% | $379k (exactly $378,521) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 122 |
| Released games | 372 |
| Announced | 208 |
| 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 30% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, 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
- 3D Platformer
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sandbox, 3D Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Funny, Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 69% positive over 27,671 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 79 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 208 games are announced against 70 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Human Fall Flat | older | $19.99 | 174,835 94% | 5.2M | $105M (exactly $104,848,549) | No Brakes Games |
| | Hello Neighbor | older | $29.99 | 26,329 87% | 790k | $24M (exactly $23,688,201) | Dynamic Pixels |
| | Little Kitty, Big City | older | $24.99 | 10,423 96% | 313k | $7.8M (exactly $7,814,123) | Double Dagger Studio |
| | Cultivation Tales | older | $19.99 | 12,560 38% | 377k | $7.5M (exactly $7,532,232) | Ac Games |
| | Sunset Overdrive | older | $19.99 | 12,082 90% | 362k | $7.2M (exactly $7,245,575) | Insomniac Games, Blind Squirrel Games |
| | Starsand Island | $39.99 | 5,898 76% | 177k | $7.1M (exactly $7,075,831) | Seed Sparkle Lab | |
| | The Front | $19.99 | 9,555 66% | 287k | $5.7M (exactly $5,730,134) | Samar Studio | |
| | Biped | older | $14.99 | 9,025 85% | 271k | $4.1M (exactly $4,058,542) | NEXT Studios |
| | Saints Row®: The Third™ Remastered | older | $29.99 | 3,968 73% | 119k | $3.6M (exactly $3,570,010) | Deep Silver Volition, Sperasoft |
| | Bang-On Balls: Chronicles | older | $24.99 | 4,334 96% | 130k | $3.2M (exactly $3,249,200) | Exit Plan Games |
| | s&box | $9.99 | 5,118 46% | 154k | $1.5M (exactly $1,533,865) | Facepunch Studios | |
| | IfSunSets | · EA | $19.99 | 2,284 74% | 69k | $1.4M (exactly $1,369,715) | POLYMORPH |
| | Animal Company | · EA | $19.99 | 749 86% | 22k | $449k (exactly $449,175) | Wooster Games |
| | Mr. Sleepy Man | $19.99 | 636 98% | 19k | $381k (exactly $381,409) | Devin Santi | |
| | A Webbing Journey | · EA | $9.99 | 1,263 98% | 38k | $379k (exactly $378,521) | Fire Totem Games |
| | 沙雕之路 | $10.00 | 1,039 96% | 31k | $312k (exactly $311,700) | 馆叔 | |
| | Stickman Strikes: Conquer Fantasy World | $11.99 | 642 78% | 19k | $231k (exactly $230,927) | LGaoGame | |
| | Nuclear Epoch | $14.99 | 487 78% | 15k | $219k (exactly $219,004) | Cat Play Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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