Do I ship it?

Games › Action › Action + Runner

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Runner Action game?

Action + Runner

Of 486 developers who shipped a Runner 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.. 538 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $240 in the last 2 years and $240 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 265 developers shipped in the last year and 538 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue up 35% on the market, 538 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Action + Runner
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 486
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $449 → $449 → $238 → $238 → $270 → $299 → $179 (still earning) → $30 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Action + Runner: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 486
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $238 (exactly $238)
Top 25% $1.3k (exactly $1,254)
Top 5% $22k (exactly $22,491)
Developers, 2 yr 486
Released games 1,673
Announced 538
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 up 35% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Runner
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Action, Runner; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Platformer, Arcade, Action-Adventure
Price point
$3.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.

The top 10 games average 90% positive over 19,077 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $240, 1 in 4 over $1.2k, 1 in 20 over $22k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 293 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 538 games are announced against 265 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Action with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Real-Time with PauseFair16 devs · median $103k · 18 announced
  2. + Job SimulatorFair25 devs · median $14k · 30 announced
  3. + PinballFair42 devs · median $2.6k · 48 announced
  4. + Escape RoomFair43 devs · median $1.8k · 40 announced
  5. + Football (American)Fair16 devs · median $1.3k · 6 announced
  6. + BaseballFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 12 announced
  7. + BilliardsFair19 devs · median $958 · 25 announced
  8. + IdlerFair225 devs · median $898 · 292 announced
  9. + TennisFair23 devs · median $628 · 12 announced
  10. + Time AttackFair90 devs · median $599 · 110 announced
  11. + TabletopFair71 devs · median $505 · 86 announced
  12. + WuxiaPoor odds9 devs · median $189k · 36 announced

All 288 pairs on the Action page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Ghostrunner 2 2023 · $9.6M Mirror's Edge™ Catalyst 2020 · $8.4M Haste 2025 · $7.6M Melody's Escape 2016 · $1.3M Retrowave 2022 · $1.2M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Ghostrunner 2 older $39.99 7,981 80% 239k $9.6M (exactly $9,574,806) One More Level
Mirror's Edge™ Catalyst older $19.99 14,078 79% 422k $8.4M (exactly $8,442,577) DICE
Haste $19.99 12,690 92% 381k $7.6M (exactly $7,610,193) Landfall
Melody's Escape older $9.99 4,336 92% 130k $1.3M (exactly $1,299,499) Icetesy
Retrowave older $2.99 13,742 96% 412k $1.2M (exactly $1,232,657) RewindApp
STRIDE older $19.99 1,975 79% 59k $1.2M (exactly $1,184,408) Joy Way
Phantom Abyss older $19.99 1,962 81% 59k $1.2M (exactly $1,176,611) Team WIBY
Soda Crisis older $10.99 2,915 93% 87k $961k (exactly $961,076) Team Soda
SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell older $14.99 2,050 95% 62k $922k (exactly $921,885) Pine Studio
Last Room older $29.99 953 73% 29k $857k (exactly $857,414) Quantum Forge Studios
Bloodthief $19.99 1,017 95% 31k $610k (exactly $609,895) Blargis
Bionic Bay $19.99 750 84% 23k $450k (exactly $449,775) Psychoflow Studio, Mureena Oy
ODDCORE · EA $12.99 1,080 96% 32k $421k (exactly $420,876) ODDCORP
Nitro Express $12.99 1,069 75% 32k $417k (exactly $416,589) Grayfax Software
Agreeee $4.99 1,150 74% 35k $172k (exactly $172,155) べすとまん
CONERU -DIMENSION GIRL- $19.99 263 96% 7.9k $158k (exactly $157,721) HIKE Inc., Eallin Japan Co.Ltd.
Melody's Escape 2 $14.99 284 95% 8.5k $128k (exactly $127,715) Icetesy
Relooted $14.99 257 87% 7.7k $116k (exactly $115,573) Nyamakop
GuGu Pizza : Delivering Pizza to the Space Station? Boss, this is just not right! $6.99 517 87% 16k $108k (exactly $108,415) AnomalyGuys

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.