Games › Action › Action + Quick-Time Events
Should I ship a Quick-Time Events Action game?
Action + Quick-Time Events
Of 184 developers who shipped a Quick-Time Events Action 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.. 273 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 123 developers shipped in the last year and 273 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $105 (exactly $105) |
|---|---|
| Median | $299 (exactly $299) |
| Top 25% | $1.3k (exactly $1,258) |
| Top 5% | $27k (exactly $27,432) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 184 |
| Released games | 518 |
| Announced | 273 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 100% 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.
- Action
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Quick-Time Events
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Action, Quick-Time Events; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Arcade
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $13.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $13.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 80,529 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $110. 9 in 10 of the 80 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 273 games are announced against 123 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Real-Time with PauseFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + PinballFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + BaseballFair
- + BilliardsFair
- + IdlerFair
- + TennisFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + TabletopFair
- + WuxiaPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Call of Duty®: Black Ops III | older | $59.99 | 157,694 88% | 4.7M | $284M (exactly $283,801,892) | Treyarch, Aspyr (Mac) |
| | Stellar Blade™ | $59.99 | 61,289 93% | 1.8M | $110M (exactly $110,301,813) | SHIFT UP Corporation | |
| | Tomb Raider Game of the Year | older | $19.99 | 173,270 95% | 5.2M | $104M (exactly $103,910,019) | Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Feral… (Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Feral Interactive (Mac), Nixxes) |
| | Resident Evil 4 (2005) | older | $19.99 | 78,502 94% | 2.4M | $47M (exactly $47,077,649) | Capcom |
| | Call of Duty®: Infinite Warfare | older | $59.99 | 17,489 65% | 525k | $31M (exactly $31,474,953) | Infinity Ward |
| | Resident Evil 6 | older | $19.99 | 51,420 77% | 1.5M | $31M (exactly $30,836,574) | Capcom |
| | Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles | older | $59.99 | 16,545 87% | 496k | $30M (exactly $29,776,036) | CyberConnect2 |
| | Resident Evil 5 | older | $19.99 | 48,521 87% | 1.5M | $29M (exactly $29,098,044) | Capcom |
| | The Walking Dead | older | $14.99 | 53,650 97% | 1.6M | $24M (exactly $24,126,405) | Telltale Games |
| | SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS | $49.99 | 12,178 96% | 365k | $18M (exactly $18,263,347) | Sonic Team | |
| | Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2 | $59.99 | 2,879 83% | 86k | $5.2M (exactly $5,181,336) | CyberConnect2 | |
| | A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead | $29.99 | 2,331 74% | 70k | $2.1M (exactly $2,097,201) | Stormind Games | |
| | PAC-MAN WORLD 2 Re-PAC | $29.99 | 694 90% | 21k | $624k (exactly $624,392) | NOW PRODUCTION Co., Ltd. | |
| | The Occultist | $29.99 | 244 74% | 7.3k | $220k (exactly $219,527) | DALOAR | |
| | The Trolley Solution | $9.99 | 574 77% | 17k | $172k (exactly $172,028) | byDanDans | |
| | Rally Arcade Classics | $19.99 | 125 79% | 3.8k | $75k (exactly $74,962) | NETK2GAMES | |
| | Twelves:Shadow | $12.99 | 154 35% | 4.6k | $60k (exactly $60,014) | JuLu Studio | |
| | Ragnar | $14.99 | 61 83% | 1.8k | $27k (exactly $27,432) | Fimbulwinter Games |
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.