Games › Base Building › Base Building + Local Co-Op
Should I ship a Local Co-Op Base Building game?
Base Building + Local Co-Op
Only 14 developers shipped a Local Co-Op Base Building 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, Grounded 2, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 39 more are announced, ×13 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
Only 3 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $2.6k against a market of $630. 39 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $240 (exactly $240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.6k (exactly $2,633) |
| Top 25% | $65k (exactly $65,391) |
| Top 5% | $19M (exactly $19,291,367) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 57 |
| Announced | 39 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 45% on the market, supply 75% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Base Building
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Local Co-Op
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Base Building, Local Co-Op; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Co-op, Online Co-Op, Action
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Comedy, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 22,499 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 39 games are announced against 3 developers who shipped in the last year, ×13 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Base Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + UndergroundPoor odds
- + MarsPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
Comparable games
Grounded 2 2025 · EA · $19M 
PlateUp! 2022 · $11M 
How to Survive 2 2016 · $3.9M 
Kingdom Eighties 2023 · $1.1M 
DG2: Defense Grid 2 2014 · $810k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Grounded 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 21,442 82% | 643k | $19M (exactly $19,291,367) | Obsidian Entertainment, Eidos-Montréal |
| | PlateUp! | older | $19.99 | 18,500 94% | 555k | $11M (exactly $11,094,450) | It's happening |
| | How to Survive 2 | older | $14.99 | 8,641 69% | 259k | $3.9M (exactly $3,885,858) | Eko Software |
| | Kingdom Eighties | older | $11.99 | 3,001 75% | 90k | $1.1M (exactly $1,079,460) | Fury Studios |
| | DG2: Defense Grid 2 | older | $9.99 | 2,704 86% | 81k | $810k (exactly $810,389) | Hidden Path Entertainment |
 | Lumencraft | older | $19.99 | 1,086 75% | 33k | $651k (exactly $651,274) | 2Dynamic Games |
 | Yet Another Zombie Defense HD | older | $3.99 | 2,561 84% | 77k | $307k (exactly $306,552) | Awesome Games Studio |
 | PixelJunk™ Nom Nom Galaxy | older | $9.99 | 808 77% | 24k | $242k (exactly $242,158) | Q-Games Ltd. |
 | Star Shelter | older | $19.99 | 403 78% | 12k | $242k (exactly $241,679) | Overflow |
 | Bunhouse | older | $19.99 | 395 92% | 12k | $237k (exactly $236,881) | Reky Studios |
 | Chip ‘n Clawz vs. The Brainioids | $29.99 | 90 83% | 2.7k | $81k (exactly $80,973) | Snapshot Games Inc. | |
 | Keep Keepers | $17.99 | 135 87% | 4.1k | $73k (exactly $72,860) | Thunderrock Innovations | |
 | iDigging | $2.99 | 729 69% | 22k | $65k (exactly $65,391) | TWEN | |
 | Monarchy | $14.99 | 47 78% | 1.4k | $21k (exactly $21,136) | Brain Seal Ltd | |
 | Crypt Crawler | $7.99 | 15 100% | 450 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Wild Domain | |
 | Sidewalk Simulator | · EA | $3.99 | 22 95% | 660 | $2.6k (exactly $2,633) | XCCWARE LLC |
 | Market Empire Simulator | $4.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) | Coffeeshake Games | |
 | Xeno Rangers | $11.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.4k (exactly $1,439) | 9000 Legends | |
 | Protect Your Humans | $7.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $240 (exactly $240) | RaphMoiteGames |
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.