Do I ship it?

GamesLocal Co-OpLocal Co-Op + Artificial Intelligence

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an AI Local Co-Op game?

Local Co-Op + Artificial Intelligence

Only 16 developers shipped an AI Local Co-Op game 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, EA SPORTS™ College Football 27, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 15 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $11k, ×23 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $160. Revenue is up 190% on the market; 15 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 23.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 190% on the market, 15 announced, ×1.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Local Co-Op + Artificial Intelligence
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 16
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $90 → $539 → $1.2k → $49k → $158 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Local Co-Op + Artificial Intelligence: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 16
Bottom 30% $158 (exactly $158)
Median $11k (exactly $11,089)
Top 25% $194k (exactly $193,703)
Top 5% $5.4M (exactly $5,423,525)
Developers, 2 yr 16
Released games 50
Announced 15
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $9.00

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 190% on the market, supply 120% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 18%, 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.

Local Co-Op
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Artificial Intelligence
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Local Co-Op; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Local Multiplayer, Co-op, PvP
Price point
$9.00 typical · top 25% priced $69.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cartoon, Cartoony, Cute
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $69.99 or above; the middle game at $9.00.

The top 10 games average 63% positive over 11,910 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $160, median $11k, 1 in 4 over $190k, 1 in 20 over $5.4M.

3 in 10 developers made under $160. 9 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 15 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Local Co-Op with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + LootStrong odds22 devs · median $7.3k · 21 announced
  2. + LGBTQ+Fair11 devs · median $14k · 12 announced
  3. + TriviaFair12 devs · median $7.5k · 13 announced
  4. + Action RPGFair68 devs · median $6.0k · 82 announced
  5. + ModernFair11 devs · median $3.6k · 10 announced
  6. + Dark FantasyFair40 devs · median $2.7k · 47 announced
  7. + Board GameFair35 devs · median $2.4k · 41 announced
  8. + Dungeon CrawlerFair49 devs · median $1.8k · 60 announced
  9. + MedievalFair46 devs · median $1.8k · 52 announced
  10. + Immersive SimFair22 devs · median $1.8k · 27 announced
  11. + Point & ClickFair12 devs · median $1.8k · 9 announced
  12. + Turn-Based StrategyFair32 devs · median $1.3k · 41 announced

All 151 pairs on the Local Co-Op page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
EA SPORTS™ College Football 27 $69.99 2,583 40% 77k $5.4M (exactly $5,423,525) Tiburon
Plants vs. Zombies™: Replanted $19.99 6,898 66% 207k $4.1M (exactly $4,136,731) PopCap Games, The Lost Pixels
AO Tennis 2 older $49.99 1,236 70% 37k $1.9M (exactly $1,853,629) Big Ant Studios
Little Fighter 2 Remastered $15.88 1,770 76% 53k $843k (exactly $843,228) Little Fighter Co Pty Ltd, Marti Wong
Tennis World Tour 2 older $39.99 202 49% 6.1k $242k (exactly $242,339) Big Ant Studios
Death Squared older $14.99 471 90% 14k $212k (exactly $211,809) SMG Studio
Pure Badminton $19.99 323 81% 9.7k $194k (exactly $193,703) DS SOFT
Deviation Game · EA $14.99 109 90% 3.3k $49k (exactly $49,017) Tomo Kihara, Playfool
おしゃべりキング!コミュ力診断ゲーム $8.99 69 97% 2.1k $19k (exactly $18,609) Hyper Index, Inc.
Serious Fun Football · EA older $9.99 51 41% 1.5k $15k (exactly $15,285) KW-SFF
Warm Monkey $9.00 47 89% 1.4k $13k (exactly $12,690) Evprod
SUPERVERSE $9.99 37 70% 1.1k $11k (exactly $11,089) Superverse Industries
Delta Manager · EA $12.99 28 92% 840 $11k (exactly $10,912) Fassi Blue
ChanceBall $4.99 46 100% 1.4k $6.9k (exactly $6,886) Second Tempo Games

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