Do I ship it?

Games › Beat 'em up › Beat 'em up + Collectathon

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Collectathon Beat 'em up?

Beat 'em up + Collectathon

Of 25 developers who shipped a Collectathon Beat 'em up 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.. 20 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×2.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $150. Revenue is up 40% on the market; 20 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 2.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 40% on the market, 20 announced, ×1.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Beat 'em up + Collectathon
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 25
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.6k → $148 → $26k → $150 → $60 → $1.2k (still earning) → $69k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Beat 'em up + Collectathon: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 25
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $1.2k (exactly $1,166)
Top 25% $14k (exactly $14,386)
Top 5% $85k (exactly $84,515)
Developers, 2 yr 25
Released games 67
Announced 20
Effort 4 / 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 up 40% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, 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.

Beat 'em up
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Collectathon
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Beat 'em up, Collectathon; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Arcade
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute, Story Rich
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 74% positive over 1,729 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $1.2k, 1 in 4 over $14k, 1 in 20 over $84k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 20 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Beat 'em up with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + LGBTQ+Fair14 devs · median $76k · 13 announced
  2. + RhythmFair17 devs · median $4.5k · 15 announced
  3. + Score AttackFair36 devs · median $539 · 41 announced
  4. + IncrementalFair11 devs · median $537 · 8 announced
  5. + Tower DefenseFair14 devs · median $416 · 19 announced
  6. + NinjaLong shot29 devs · median $359 · 30 announced
  7. + Combat RacingLong shot15 devs · median $89 · 15 announced
  8. + Character Action GamePoor odds12 devs · median $58k · 37 announced
  9. + LootPoor odds20 devs · median $13k · 29 announced
  10. + Co-opPoor odds74 devs · median $11k · 125 announced
  11. + Online Co-OpPoor odds45 devs · median $11k · 71 announced
  12. + Local Co-OpPoor odds68 devs · median $9.0k · 94 announced

All 126 pairs on the Beat 'em up page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

River City Girls 2 2022 · $1.9M BLACKWOOD 2026 · $424k Maiden Cops 2024 · $85k Decline's Drops 2024 · $76k Abyss Kitchen 2026 · $73k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
River City Girls 2 older $39.99 1,552 85% 47k $1.9M (exactly $1,861,934) WayForward
BLACKWOOD $24.99 565 46% 17k $424k (exactly $423,580) AttritoM7 Productions
Maiden Cops $9.99 282 87% 8.5k $85k (exactly $84,515) Pippin Games
Decline's Drops $14.99 170 96% 5.1k $76k (exactly $76,449) Le Moulin aux Bulles
Abyss Kitchen $11.99 202 89% 6.1k $73k (exactly $72,659) Pico Games
IGNOBLE $6.99 331 82% 9.9k $69k (exactly $69,411) Retromagine
Rusty Seas $19.99 89 100% 2.7k $53k (exactly $53,373) Don't Feed the Wuff
Control Craft 2 older $4.99 274 72% 8.2k $41k (exactly $41,018) Cristian Manolachi, Atomic Fabrik
Loot Hero DX older $2.99 338 71% 10k $30k (exactly $30,319) VaragtP
Otokonoko Fishing older $11.99 72 90% 2.2k $26k (exactly $25,898) mumimumi, veryOK
Deadtime Defenders $9.99 48 79% 1.4k $14k (exactly $14,386) Arcane Embers
Espectro The Fighters Focus $8.99 15 100% 450 $4.0k (exactly $4,046) Bytteam Game Studio
Zombie Survivors $3.99 17 94% 510 $2.0k (exactly $2,035) Cube Games, Denner Bougo
Checkout Blitz: The Shopping Dead $4.99 10 100% 300 $1.5k (exactly $1,497) Birdtek Games

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