Do I ship it?

Games › Beat 'em up › Beat 'em up + Puzzle

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Puzzle Beat 'em up?

Beat 'em up + Puzzle

Only 17 developers shipped a Puzzle 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, Forestrike, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 26 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $0, under ×0.1 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50. 26 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper, while revenue is up 774480% on the market.

Deciding numbers: median 0.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 774480% on the market, 26 announced, ×3.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Beat 'em up + Puzzle
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 17
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $31k → $359 → $0 → $4.3k → $539 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Beat 'em up + Puzzle: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 17
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $0 (exactly $0)
Top 25% $11k (exactly $11,266)
Top 5% $276k (exactly $275,724)
Developers, 2 yr 17
Released games 74
Announced 26
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $7.77

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 10% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, 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
Puzzle
effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data

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, Puzzle; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Combat, Action
Price point
$7.77 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cartoony, Comic Book, Funny
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.77.

The top 8 games average 90% positive over 1,221 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 $0, 1 in 4 over $11k, 1 in 20 over $270k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 8 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 26 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.

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. + CollectathonFair25 devs · median $1.2k · 20 announced
  4. + Score AttackFair36 devs · median $539 · 41 announced
  5. + IncrementalFair11 devs · median $537 · 8 announced
  6. + Tower DefenseFair14 devs · median $416 · 19 announced
  7. + NinjaLong shot29 devs · median $359 · 30 announced
  8. + Combat RacingLong shot15 devs · median $89 · 15 announced
  9. + Character Action GamePoor odds12 devs · median $58k · 37 announced
  10. + LootPoor odds20 devs · median $13k · 29 announced
  11. + Co-opPoor odds74 devs · median $11k · 125 announced
  12. + Online Co-OpPoor odds45 devs · median $11k · 71 announced

All 126 pairs on the Beat 'em up page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Batman™: Arkham Knight 2015 · $67M Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition 2010 · $37M Full Metal Furies 2018 · $1.3M Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe 2017 · $974k FIGHT KNIGHT 2021 · $928k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Batman™: Arkham Knight older $19.99 111,190 92% 3.3M $67M (exactly $66,680,643) Rocksteady Studios
Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition older $19.99 62,057 96% 1.9M $37M (exactly $37,215,583) Rocksteady Studios
Full Metal Furies older $19.99 2,108 91% 63k $1.3M (exactly $1,264,168) Cellar Door Games
Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe older $19.99 1,624 95% 49k $974k (exactly $973,913) Trinket Studios
FIGHT KNIGHT older $19.99 1,547 91% 46k $928k (exactly $927,736) Team Sorcerobe
Forestrike $9.99 920 91% 28k $276k (exactly $275,724) Skeleton Crew Studio, Thomas Olsson
Astor: Blade of the Monolith older $24.99 152 71% 4.6k $114k (exactly $113,954) C2 Game Studio
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown $19.99 160 89% 4.8k $96k (exactly $95,952) Strange Scaffold
Godzilla Voxel Wars older $14.99 113 94% 3.4k $51k (exactly $50,816) TOHO CO., LTD., Nukenin
Super Algebrawl older $5.99 173 91% 5.2k $31k (exactly $31,088) PUNKCAKE Délicieux
Green Ember: Helmer in the Dragon Tomb $16.99 32 96% 960 $16k (exactly $16,310) Brazen Games, Longtreader Games
Locuras en el Banaverso $9.99 46 93% 1.4k $14k (exactly $13,786) Newvicon Ltd
S.E.M.I. – Side Effects May Include... $7.99 47 78% 1.4k $11k (exactly $11,266) Two Horn Unicorn
Mutants Ate My Carrots $11.99 12 100% 360 $4.3k (exactly $4,316) Animatic Vision
Tenvader $5.99 3 100% 90 $539 (exactly $539) Rikerat
Data Drift: Cyberpunk Shooter Top Down indie action $2.99 1 0% 30 $90 (exactly $90) Napoterulle
ARO dangerous campaign $4.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Alexander Sevastianov
MATH $29.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) ZAID SHUKUR

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