Games › Fighting › Fighting + Beat 'em up
Should I ship a Beat 'em up Fighting game?
Fighting + Beat 'em up
Of 55 developers who shipped a Beat 'em up Fighting 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.. 86 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.0k, ×3.4 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $750; 1 in 20 cleared $3.7M, ×2488 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 86 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $748 (exactly $748) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.0k (exactly $5,036) |
| Top 25% | $45k (exactly $44,978) |
| Top 5% | $3.7M (exactly $3,727,457) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 55 |
| Released games | 360 |
| Announced | 86 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 70% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Fighting
- effort 7 / 10 · low · frame data, hitboxes and rollback netcode
- Beat 'em up
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Fighting, Beat 'em up; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Co-op
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 27,581 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $750. 7 in 10 of the 31 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 86 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Fighting with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SandboxStrong odds
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + Dark FantasyPoor odds
- + Souls-likePoor odds
- + SwordplayPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CyberpunkPoor odds
- + Local Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + AdventurePoor odds
Comparable games
TEKKEN 7 2017 · $82M 
Batman™: Arkham Knight 2015 · $67M 
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 2016 · $43M 
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition 2014 · $42M 
Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition 2010 · $37M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | TEKKEN 7 | older | $39.99 | 68,063 83% | 2.0M | $82M (exactly $81,655,181) | BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc. |
| | Batman™: Arkham Knight | older | $19.99 | 111,190 92% | 3.3M | $67M (exactly $66,680,643) | Rocksteady Studios |
| | NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 | older | $19.99 | 72,409 90% | 2.2M | $43M (exactly $43,423,677) | CyberConnect2 Co. Ltd. |
| | Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition | older | $19.99 | 70,499 94% | 2.1M | $42M (exactly $42,278,250) | United Front Games, Feral Interactive (… (United Front Games, Feral Interactive (Mac)) |
| | Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition | older | $19.99 | 62,057 96% | 1.9M | $37M (exactly $37,215,583) | Rocksteady Studios |
 | DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE | older | $64.98 | 17,554 89% | 527k | $34M (exactly $34,219,768) | DIMPS |
 | Batman: Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition | older | $19.99 | 55,935 95% | 1.7M | $34M (exactly $33,544,219) | Rocksteady Studios |
 | Rivals of Aether | older | $29.99 | 33,284 96% | 999k | $30M (exactly $29,945,615) | Aether Studios |
 | Batman™: Arkham Origins | older | $19.99 | 45,536 90% | 1.4M | $27M (exactly $27,307,939) | WB Games Montreal, Splash Damage |
 | DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 | older | $19.99 | 45,155 90% | 1.4M | $27M (exactly $27,079,453) | QLOC, Dimps Corporation |
 | Absolum | $24.99 | 9,399 91% | 282k | $7.0M (exactly $7,046,430) | Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, Supamonks | |
 | Rotwood | $29.99 | 7,459 74% | 224k | $6.7M (exactly $6,710,862) | Klei Entertainment | |
 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate | $29.99 | 4,143 83% | 124k | $3.7M (exactly $3,727,457) | Super Evil Megacorp | |
 | Samson | $24.99 | 2,911 54% | 87k | $2.2M (exactly $2,182,377) | Liquid Swords | |
 | Tears of Metal | · EA | $24.99 | 2,359 85% | 71k | $1.8M (exactly $1,768,542) | Paper Cult |
 | Scott Pilgrim EX | $28.99 | 471 85% | 14k | $410k (exactly $409,629) | Tribute Games Inc. | |
 | Monster: Titan's Playground | · EA | $29.99 | 273 91% | 8.2k | $246k (exactly $245,618) | Stellar Knights |
 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed | $39.99 | 114 50% | 3.4k | $137k (exactly $136,766) | AHEARTFULOFGAMES | |
 | G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra | $24.99 | 121 56% | 3.6k | $91k (exactly $90,714) | indie.io | |
 | IGNOBLE | $6.99 | 331 82% | 9.9k | $69k (exactly $69,411) | Retromagine |
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.