Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Beat 'em up

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Beat 'em up Flight game?

Flight + Beat 'em up

Only 11 developers shipped a Beat 'em up Flight 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, Don't Crash, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 12 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $180 in the last 2 years and $59 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 9 developers shipped in the last year and 12 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.3 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 12 announced, ×1.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Beat 'em up
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 11
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $599 → $0 → $359 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Beat 'em up: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 11
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $179 (exactly $179)
Top 25% $300 (exactly $300)
Top 5% $10k (exactly $10,180)
Developers, 2 yr 11
Released games 43
Announced 12
Effort 6 / 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 350% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, 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.

Flight
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Beat 'em up
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Flight, Beat 'em up
Price point
$4.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 6 games average 94% positive over 78 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $180, 1 in 4 over $300, 1 in 20 over $10k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 12 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Flight with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair9 devs · median $2.4k · 11 announced
  2. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $1.3k · 10 announced
  3. + Quick-Time EventsFair9 devs · median $657 · 9 announced
  4. + CatsFair6 devs · median $629 · 10 announced
  5. + Life SimPoor odds12 devs · median $70k · 29 announced
  6. + TradingPoor odds6 devs · median $36k · 21 announced
  7. + MiningPoor odds10 devs · median $35k · 13 announced
  8. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $19k · 57 announced
  9. + Base BuildingPoor odds23 devs · median $17k · 48 announced
  10. + EconomyPoor odds20 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  11. + RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $15k · 18 announced
  12. + Cold WarPoor odds10 devs · median $11k · 16 announced

All 132 pairs on the Flight page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Project Demigod 2024 · $238k 东方远空界 ~ Ultimate Vitality of Imagination 2022 · $27k Food Chain 2020 · EA · $17k ECHOLOCAUTION 2021 · $13k Bakemono - Demon Brigade Tenmen Unit 01 2020 · EA · $10k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Project Demigod older $19.99 397 69% 12k $238k (exactly $238,081) Omnifarious Studios LLC
东方远空界 ~ Ultimate Vitality of Imagination older $9.99 90 83% 2.7k $27k (exactly $26,973) 神心飘游堂
Food Chain · EA older $7.99 69 59% 2.1k $17k (exactly $16,539) Kozhakov
ECHOLOCAUTION older $4.99 88 100% 2.6k $13k (exactly $13,174) ハコニワハコビヤ
Bakemono - Demon Brigade Tenmen Unit 01 · EA older $19.99 17 70% 510 $10k (exactly $10,195) SuperSane Games
Don't Crash $4.99 68 98% 2.0k $10k (exactly $10,180) Override Studio
BoltBreak older $5.99 18 66% 540 $3.2k (exactly $3,235) KomodoBit Games
Air defenders older $9.99 10 100% 300 $3.0k (exactly $2,997) Serhii Khramov, Dmytro Pohrebnyi, Illia… (Serhii Khramov, Dmytro Pohrebnyi, Illia Ustenko)
UFO vs Bikini older $8.99 11 90% 330 $3.0k (exactly $2,967) Xenon Lu
Join Rush Attack / 加入突袭 older $4.99 16 81% 480 $2.4k (exactly $2,395) Bad Kids Games
Dual Force $3.99 3 100% 90 $359 (exactly $359) Howling Beast Entertainment
Thor - God of Thunder · EA $9.99 1 100% 30 $300 (exactly $300) Outlaw Games
Sky Recoil $4.99 2 100% 60 $299 (exactly $299) EuNUeY
Final Eden $2.99 2 0% 60 $179 (exactly $179) X-Seed Studio
Anders III: Coast Of Pain $2.99 2 50% 60 $179 (exactly $179) Andrew Simon
Plants in Rush $2.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Stanbaki games
Riders $9.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) DC2S
Fly High Runners $2.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Lavibus Games
Rapid Puppet $14.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Warp Zone Experiments

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