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Should I ship a Board Game Puzzle game?
Board Game + Puzzle
Of 315 developers who shipped a Board Game Puzzle 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.. 259 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $120 for a 2 / 10 build. 188 developers shipped in the last year and 259 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $298 (exactly $298) |
| Top 25% | $1.9k (exactly $1,948) |
| Top 5% | $25k (exactly $25,183) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 315 |
| Released games | 1,272 |
| Announced | 259 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 45% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Board Game
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
- Puzzle
- effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Board Game, Puzzle; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Turn-Based Tactics, Turn-Based Strategy
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 55,740 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 181 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 259 games are announced against 188 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Board Game with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Party-Based RPGFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair
- + JRPGFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + SpaceFair
- + Alternate HistoryFair
- + MahjongFair
- + Party GameFair
- + DragonsFair
Comparable games
Dorfromantik 2022 · $12M 
Liar's Bar 2024 · EA · $10M 
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes 2015 · $6.4M 
Depersonalization 2024 · $3.6M 
5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel 2020 · $2.9M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dorfromantik | older | $13.99 | 27,441 96% | 823k | $12M (exactly $11,516,988) | Toukana Interactive |
| | Liar's Bar | · EA | $6.99 | 48,708 89% | 1.5M | $10M (exactly $10,214,068) | Curve Animation |
| | Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes | older | $14.99 | 14,331 97% | 430k | $6.4M (exactly $6,444,651) | Steel Crate Games |
| | Depersonalization | older | $19.99 | 6,041 92% | 181k | $3.6M (exactly $3,622,788) | MeowNature |
| | 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel | older | $11.99 | 8,097 96% | 243k | $2.9M (exactly $2,912,491) | Conor Petersen, Thunkspace, LLC |
 | Niche - a genetics survival game | older | $17.99 | 4,356 88% | 131k | $2.4M (exactly $2,350,933) | Stray Fawn Studio |
 | Root | older | $14.99 | 5,049 90% | 151k | $2.3M (exactly $2,270,535) | Dire Wolf |
 | Clue/Cluedo: Classic Edition | older | $16.99 | 3,096 88% | 93k | $1.6M (exactly $1,578,031) | Marmalade Game Studio Ltd |
 | Drop Duchy | $14.99 | 2,962 89% | 89k | $1.3M (exactly $1,332,011) | Sleepy Mill Studio | |
 | Lara Croft GO | older | $9.99 | 3,274 94% | 98k | $981k (exactly $981,218) | Square Enix Montréal |
 | Dawnfolk | $14.99 | 664 94% | 20k | $299k (exactly $298,601) | Darenn Keller | |
 | The Conquest of Go | $14.99 | 581 94% | 17k | $261k (exactly $261,276) | Wolfey Studios | |
 | Preserve | $12.49 | 690 92% | 21k | $259k (exactly $258,543) | Bitmap Galaxy | |
 | Turnbound | $14.99 | 446 78% | 13k | $201k (exactly $200,566) | 1TK | |
 | Bogos Binted? | $5.49 | 1,134 91% | 34k | $187k (exactly $186,770) | underbadger | |
 | Cascadia | $14.99 | 210 98% | 6.3k | $94k (exactly $94,437) | Dire Wolf | |
 | River Towns | $14.99 | 184 89% | 5.5k | $83k (exactly $82,745) | Frogsong Studios | |
 | How 2 Escape: Lost Submarine | $12.99 | 161 83% | 4.8k | $63k (exactly $62,742) | Breakfirst Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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