Games › Simulation › Simulation + 4 Player Local
Should I ship a 4 Player Local Simulation game?
Simulation + 4 Player Local
Of 69 developers who shipped a 4 Player Local Simulation 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.. 86 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.1k, ×3.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is up 185% on the market; 86 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) |
| Top 25% | $18k (exactly $17,845) |
| Top 5% | $533k (exactly $532,534) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 69 |
| Released games | 235 |
| Announced | 86 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 185% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- 4 Player Local
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, 4 Player Local; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Local Multiplayer, Co-op, Local Co-Op
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Family Friendly, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 96% positive over 37,436 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 86 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
NBA 2K25 2024 · $65M 
Overcooked! 2 2018 · $46M 
Wobbly Life 2025 · $25M 
Overcooked 2016 · $6.9M 
Overcooked! All You Can Eat 2021 · $6.9M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | NBA 2K25 | older | $69.99 | 30,969 60% | 929k | $65M (exactly $65,025,609) | Visual Concepts |
| | Overcooked! 2 | older | $24.99 | 61,956 90% | 1.9M | $46M (exactly $46,448,413) | Ghost Town Games Ltd., Team17 |
| | Wobbly Life | $24.99 | 33,034 97% | 991k | $25M (exactly $24,765,590) | RubberBandGames | |
| | Overcooked | older | $16.99 | 13,528 89% | 406k | $6.9M (exactly $6,895,222) | Ghost Town Games Ltd. |
| | Overcooked! All You Can Eat | older | $39.99 | 5,744 73% | 172k | $6.9M (exactly $6,891,077) | Team17 Digital, Ghost Town Games |
 | Cricket 24 | older | $44.99 | 2,435 79% | 73k | $3.3M (exactly $3,286,520) | Big Ant Studios |
 | Super Mega Baseball 3 | older | $44.99 | 1,832 92% | 55k | $2.5M (exactly $2,472,650) | Metalhead Software Inc. |
 | Wrestling Empire | older | $19.99 | 3,036 94% | 91k | $1.8M (exactly $1,820,689) | MDickie |
 | Cook, Serve, Delicious! | older | $12.99 | 3,713 95% | 111k | $1.4M (exactly $1,446,956) | Vertigo Gaming Inc. |
 | THE GAME OF LIFE 2 | older | $12.49 | 3,702 78% | 111k | $1.4M (exactly $1,387,139) | Marmalade Game Studio Ltd |
 | Tennis Elbow 4 | $29.99 | 1,077 96% | 32k | $969k (exactly $968,977) | Mana Games | |
 | Better Mart Simulator | $14.99 | 1,238 89% | 37k | $557k (exactly $556,729) | Exanticx Studio | |
 | Walk of Life | $19.99 | 888 94% | 27k | $533k (exactly $532,534) | Porcelain Fortress | |
 | Vacation Cafe Simulator | $19.99 | 700 88% | 21k | $420k (exactly $419,790) | Alice Games | |
 | Choppy Cuts | $16.99 | 261 75% | 7.8k | $133k (exactly $133,032) | Moco Studios I | |
 | Golden Tee Arcade Classics | $29.99 | 45 86% | 1.4k | $40k (exactly $40,486) | Digital Eclipse | |
 | Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge 4 | $39.99 | 30 70% | 900 | $36k (exactly $35,991) | Glinda Games | |
 | Pocket Cars | $9.99 | 114 87% | 3.4k | $34k (exactly $34,166) | Gen90Software | |
 | Up to Par | $19.99 | 49 73% | 1.5k | $29k (exactly $29,385) | It's Anecdotal |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.