Games › Beat 'em up › Beat 'em up + Incremental
Should I ship an Incremental Beat 'em up?
Beat 'em up + Incremental
Only 11 developers shipped an Incremental Beat 'em up 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, Maktala: Slime Lootfest, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 8 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $540, ×1.1 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $50. Revenue is up 4150% on the market; 8 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $537 (exactly $537) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,724) |
| Top 5% | $168k (exactly $168,389) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 11 |
| Released games | 33 |
| Announced | 8 |
| 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 4150% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Beat 'em up, Incremental; all of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelite, Strategy
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Atmospheric, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 9 games average 76% positive over 2,741 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 8 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Beat 'em up with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + RhythmFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + NinjaLong shot
- + Combat RacingLong shot
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + LootPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Local Co-OpPoor odds
Comparable games
Maktala: Slime Lootfest 2025 · $201k 
Zad Archery 2026 · $168k 
Chicken Assassin: Reloaded 2016 · $107k 
IGNOBLE 2026 · $69k 
Desktop Nard: Dice Idle 2026 · $17k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Maktala: Slime Lootfest | $4.99 | 1,345 79% | 40k | $201k (exactly $201,346) | Samharia Studios | |
| | Zad Archery | $6.99 | 803 73% | 24k | $168k (exactly $168,389) | Samharia Studios | |
| | Chicken Assassin: Reloaded | older | $4.99 | 715 94% | 21k | $107k (exactly $107,036) | OneShark |
| | IGNOBLE | $6.99 | 331 82% | 9.9k | $69k (exactly $69,411) | Retromagine | |
| | Desktop Nard: Dice Idle | $4.99 | 116 67% | 3.5k | $17k (exactly $17,365) | Samharia Studios | |
 | Bouncy Weapons | $4.99 | 85 44% | 2.6k | $13k (exactly $12,724) | LeenGameDev | |
 | Street karate 3 | older | $4.99 | 55 80% | 1.7k | $8.2k (exactly $8,234) | Essential Tactics Games |
 | Magic Axolotl | older | $2.99 | 77 98% | 2.3k | $6.9k (exactly $6,907) | Gato Alebrije |
 | Poop Spotter ~ The game to improve the quality of poop~ | older | $2.99 | 46 95% | 1.4k | $4.1k (exactly $4,126) | EXO Games |
 | Slime Clicker | $4.99 | 26 92% | 780 | $3.9k (exactly $3,892) | Kyiv Indie Titans | |
 | Tokyo Waning Moon | $3.99 | 25 92% | 750 | $3.0k (exactly $2,992) | Midnight Cupcakes | |
 | Paint The Snow - idle | $1.99 | 9 33% | 270 | $537 (exactly $537) | Cookie Samurai Team | |
 | Magical Girl: Final Pink Star | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | WINGLAY | |
 | HAPPY RUNNER | $0.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Bogosor Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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