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Should I ship a Puzzle Platformer Arcade game?
Arcade + Puzzle Platformer
Of 317 developers who shipped a Puzzle Platformer Arcade 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.. 295 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $240 in the last 2 years and $330 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 3 / 10 build. 180 developers shipped in the last year and 295 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $240 (exactly $240) |
| Top 25% | $1.3k (exactly $1,258) |
| Top 5% | $18k (exactly $17,515) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 317 |
| Released games | 1,204 |
| Announced | 295 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 10% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Arcade
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Puzzle Platformer
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Arcade, Puzzle Platformer; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Platformer, Puzzle
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 4,137 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. Nearly all of the 164 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 295 games are announced against 180 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Arcade with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
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Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Out There Somewhere | older | $9.99 | 6,160 92% | 185k | $1.8M (exactly $1,846,152) | MiniBoss |
| | PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC | older | $29.99 | 1,644 92% | 49k | $1.5M (exactly $1,479,107) | NOW PRODUCTION |
| | SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide | $39.99 | 1,151 93% | 35k | $1.4M (exactly $1,380,855) | Purple Lamp | |
| | N++ (NPLUSPLUS) | older | $14.99 | 2,825 95% | 85k | $1.3M (exactly $1,270,402) | Metanet Software Inc. |
| | Freedom Planet 2 | older | $24.99 | 1,581 96% | 47k | $1.2M (exactly $1,185,276) | GalaxyTrail |
| | Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light | older | $9.99 | 3,566 92% | 107k | $1.1M (exactly $1,068,730) | Crystal Dynamics |
| | Marble It Up! Ultra | older | $29.99 | 1,060 93% | 32k | $954k (exactly $953,682) | Blueteak, The Engine Company, Shapes an… (Blueteak, The Engine Company, Shapes and Lines, Arcturus Interactive, The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild) |
| | Darwin's Paradox! | $24.99 | 843 87% | 25k | $632k (exactly $631,997) | ZDT Studio | |
| | Promenade | older | $19.99 | 841 94% | 25k | $504k (exactly $504,348) | Holy Cap |
| | Zup! | older | $1.99 | 8,307 94% | 249k | $496k (exactly $495,928) | Quiet River |
| | TETRIS® THE GRAND MASTER 4 -ABSOLUTE EYE- | $24.99 | 610 87% | 18k | $457k (exactly $457,317) | ARIKA | |
| | Pinball Spire | $14.99 | 410 84% | 12k | $184k (exactly $184,377) | Apparition Games | |
| | The Smurfs – Dreams | $29.99 | 174 92% | 5.2k | $157k (exactly $156,548) | Ocellus Studio | |
| | Creepy Tale: Snow Child | $11.99 | 248 91% | 7.4k | $89k (exactly $89,206) | Creepy Brothers | |
| | Drill Bird | $4.99 | 379 97% | 11k | $57k (exactly $56,736) | Sebastian Larsson, Andrea Harty, Hampus… (Sebastian Larsson, Andrea Harty, Hampus Melin , Isabelle Neuman, Luiza Flores da Cunha) | |
| | Galumb | $7.99 | 148 28% | 4.4k | $35k (exactly $35,476) | OB | |
| | Marble's Marbles | $7.99 | 142 92% | 4.3k | $34k (exactly $34,037) | James Oliver | |
| | SNOW BROS. SPECIAL: ANNIVERSARY EDITION | $29.99 | 32 78% | 960 | $29k (exactly $28,790) | CRT GAMES |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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