Games › Adventure › Adventure + Runner
Should I ship a Runner Adventure game?
Adventure + Runner
Of 293 developers who shipped a Runner Adventure 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.. 307 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $190 in the last 2 years and $240 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 4 / 10 build. 141 developers shipped in the last year and 307 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $59 (exactly $59) |
|---|---|
| Median | $185 (exactly $185) |
| Top 25% | $1.1k (exactly $1,078) |
| Top 5% | $13k (exactly $13,486) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 293 |
| Released games | 1,043 |
| Announced | 307 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 20% on the market, supply 10% fewer 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.
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Adventure, Runner; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Platformer, Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Colorful, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 19,113 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $59. Nearly all of the 188 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 307 games are announced against 141 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Adventure with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SamuraiFair
- + FMVFair
- + PinballFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Mini GolfFair
- + SportsFair
- + GolfFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
Comparable games
| 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 | |
| | 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 |
| | Last Room | older | $29.99 | 953 73% | 29k | $857k (exactly $857,414) | Quantum Forge Studios |
| | ALTF4 | older | $2.99 | 9,452 80% | 284k | $848k (exactly $847,844) | PUMPKIM |
| | Climber Animals: Together | older | $3.99 | 6,014 73% | 180k | $720k (exactly $719,876) | Devotion Interactive |
| | VHOLUME | $8.00 | 2,992 97% | 90k | $718k (exactly $718,080) | Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels… (Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels Tiercelin) | |
| | I wanna be the Creator | older | $5.99 | 2,860 94% | 86k | $514k (exactly $513,942) | Aikesi |
| | Bionic Bay | $19.99 | 750 84% | 23k | $450k (exactly $449,775) | Psychoflow Studio, Mureena Oy | |
| | Island Notes | $12.99 | 884 82% | 27k | $344k (exactly $344,495) | KangBaoGame | |
| | 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 | |
| | WASD : The Adventure of Tori | $3.99 | 730 83% | 22k | $87k (exactly $87,381) | EVNA Games | |
| | Hell of an Office | $14.99 | 121 89% | 3.6k | $54k (exactly $54,414) | 43 Studios | |
| | JETRUNNER | $9.99 | 118 96% | 3.5k | $35k (exactly $35,365) | Riddlebit Software | |
| | Care Bears: To The Rescue | $14.99 | 54 98% | 1.6k | $24k (exactly $24,284) | Polygoat |
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.