Games › Destruction › Destruction + Arcade
Should I ship an Arcade Destruction game?
Destruction + Arcade
Of 191 developers who shipped an Arcade Destruction 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.. 342 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $600, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×244 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 342 games are announced against 127 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $178 (exactly $178) |
|---|---|
| Median | $599 (exactly $599) |
| Top 25% | $4.3k (exactly $4,341) |
| Top 5% | $153k (exactly $152,993) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 191 |
| Released games | 587 |
| Announced | 342 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 60% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Destruction
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Arcade
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Destruction, Arcade; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Incremental
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Retro
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 17,072 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 85 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 342 games are announced against 127 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Destruction with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Space SimFair
- + ModernFair
- + God GameFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CapitalismPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Automobile SimPoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
Need for Speed™ Heat 2020 · $271M 
Wreckfest 2018 · $28M 
Need for Speed™ 2020 · $23M 
Goat Simulator 2014 · $16M 
FlatOut 2 2006 · $5.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Need for Speed™ Heat | older | $69.99 | 128,933 84% | 3.9M | $271M (exactly $270,720,620) | Ghost Games |
| | Wreckfest | older | $29.99 | 31,390 87% | 942k | $28M (exactly $28,241,583) | Bugbear |
| | Need for Speed™ | older | $29.99 | 25,443 69% | 763k | $23M (exactly $22,891,067) | Ghost Games |
| | Goat Simulator | older | $9.99 | 54,740 90% | 1.6M | $16M (exactly $16,405,578) | Coffee Stain Studios |
| | FlatOut 2 | older | $9.99 | 19,466 95% | 584k | $5.8M (exactly $5,833,960) | Bugbear Entertainment, ZOOM Platform Me… (Bugbear Entertainment, ZOOM Platform Media, Jordan Freeman Group) |
 | Need for Speed™ Rivals | older | $19.99 | 9,265 76% | 278k | $5.6M (exactly $5,556,220) | Criterion Games |
 | DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS | older | $29.99 | 4,983 50% | 149k | $4.5M (exactly $4,483,205) | Dimps Corporation |
 | Burnout™ Paradise Remastered | older | $19.99 | 7,348 64% | 220k | $4.4M (exactly $4,406,596) | Stellar Entertainment, Criterion Games |
 | FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage Collector's Edition | older | $19.99 | 6,747 89% | 202k | $4.0M (exactly $4,046,176) | Bugbear Entertainment, ZOOM Platform Me… (Bugbear Entertainment, ZOOM Platform Media, Jordan Freeman Group) |
 | HARD BULLET | · EA older | $19.99 | 5,860 83% | 176k | $3.5M (exactly $3,514,242) | GexagonVR |
 | Bills Must Be Paid | $6.99 | 9,928 96% | 298k | $2.1M (exactly $2,081,902) | Rike Games | |
 | Carmageddon: Rogue Shift | $39.99 | 752 62% | 23k | $902k (exactly $902,174) | 34BigThings srl | |
 | Star Fire: Eternal Cycle | $16.99 | 1,012 91% | 30k | $516k (exactly $515,816) | Ethereal Fish Studio | |
 | Wreckreation | $39.99 | 360 63% | 11k | $432k (exactly $431,892) | Three Fields Entertainment | |
 | Sektori | $14.99 | 897 96% | 27k | $403k (exactly $403,381) | Kimmo Lahtinen | |
 | Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks | $19.99 | 493 85% | 15k | $296k (exactly $295,652) | Caged Element | |
 | Deliver At All Costs | $29.99 | 320 73% | 9.6k | $288k (exactly $287,904) | Studio Far Out Games | |
 | A Gentlemen's Dispute | $7.99 | 1,199 94% | 36k | $287k (exactly $287,400) | Blast Furnace Games | |
 | Trainatic | $5.99 | 1,089 89% | 33k | $196k (exactly $195,693) | Ryan Forrester | |
 | You Know The Drill | $4.99 | 1,022 92% | 31k | $153k (exactly $152,993) | ludokai |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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