Games › Action-Adventure › Action-Adventure + Cold War
Should I ship a Cold-War Action-Adventure?
Action-Adventure + Cold War
Only 15 developers shipped a Cold-War Action-Adventure in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 51 more are announced, ×7.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $10k, ×16 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $20M, ×32368 the market median. Revenue is up 20% on the market; 51 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $836 (exactly $836) |
|---|---|
| Median | $10k (exactly $10,195) |
| Top 25% | $766k (exactly $766,289) |
| Top 5% | $20M (exactly $20,326,934) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 42 |
| Announced | 51 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $14.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Action-Adventure
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Cold War
- 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
- Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $14.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 23,059 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $840. 6 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 51 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×7.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action-Adventure with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + BikesFair
- + TransportationFair
- + MotorbikeFair
- + TypingLong shot
- + Time AttackLong shot
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Villain ProtagonistPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER | $49.99 | 13,554 82% | 407k | $20M (exactly $20,326,934) | KONAMI | |
| | METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater - Master Collection Version | older | $19.99 | 5,403 89% | 162k | $3.2M (exactly $3,240,179) | KONAMI |
| | Metro Awakening | $29.99 | 3,013 73% | 90k | $2.7M (exactly $2,710,796) | Vertigo Games | |
| | Wild Assault | $14.99 | 3,861 68% | 116k | $1.7M (exactly $1,736,292) | Combat Cat Studio | |
| | UnMetal | older | $19.99 | 2,404 94% | 72k | $1.4M (exactly $1,441,679) | @unepic_fran |
| | Vietnam War | · EA | $14.99 | 1,704 84% | 51k | $766k (exactly $766,289) | Thorium Game Lab |
| | Tunguska: The Visitation - Final Cut | older | $14.99 | 1,682 87% | 50k | $756k (exactly $756,395) | Rotorist Workshop |
| | Scavland | · EA | $19.99 | 800 81% | 24k | $480k (exactly $479,760) | NoShadow |
| | Chornobyl Liquidators | older | $19.99 | 595 50% | 18k | $357k (exactly $356,822) | Live Motion Games, Frozen Way |
| | PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls | older | $39.99 | 58 51% | 1.7k | $70k (exactly $69,583) | Drakhar Studio |
| | Red Tears: Angola | · EA | $14.99 | 39 84% | 1.2k | $18k (exactly $17,538) | Arun Haines |
| | Eye of the Commando | · EA | $14.99 | 34 100% | 1.0k | $15k (exactly $15,290) | Adventurepro Games LLC |
| | The Core | · EA | $19.99 | 17 70% | 510 | $10k (exactly $10,195) | Electric Machine Games |
| | Fullbright Presents TOILET SPIDERS | $5.99 | 26 73% | 780 | $4.7k (exactly $4,672) | Fullbright | |
| | Sleepless | $5.99 | 11 54% | 330 | $2.0k (exactly $1,977) | CaRuFy, Nagodo |
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.