Do I ship it?

Games › Sports › Sports + Bowling

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Bowling Sports game?

Sports + Bowling

Only 15 developers shipped a Bowling Sports 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, PBA Pro Bowling 2026, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 17 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $630, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50; 1 in 20 cleared $490k, ×787 the market median. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 17 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 80% on the market, 17 announced, ×2.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Sports + Bowling
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 15
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $8.4k → $300 → $628 → $4.8k → $179 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Sports + Bowling: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 15
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $628 (exactly $628)
Top 25% $4.8k (exactly $4,797)
Top 5% $494k (exactly $494,276)
Developers, 2 yr 15
Released games 61
Announced 17
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 up 80% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 13%, 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.

Sports
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Bowling
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high 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
Sports, Bowling; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Local Multiplayer, PvP, Simulation
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic, First-Person
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 90% positive over 592 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 $630, 1 in 4 over $4.7k, 1 in 20 over $490k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 17 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Dynamic NarrationStrong odds17 devs · median $4.2k · 9 announced
  2. + CraftingFair24 devs · median $37k · 26 announced
  3. + Strategy RPGFair23 devs · median $4.7k · 26 announced
  4. + SandboxFair83 devs · median $4.2k · 103 announced
  5. + Split ScreenFair58 devs · median $4.0k · 52 announced
  6. + Dating SimFair29 devs · median $3.6k · 21 announced
  7. + Visual NovelFair38 devs · median $3.4k · 31 announced
  8. + LGBTQ+Fair14 devs · median $3.4k · 13 announced
  9. + FMVFair17 devs · median $2.7k · 5 announced
  10. + BikesFair25 devs · median $2.5k · 18 announced
  11. + Immersive SimFair182 devs · median $2.4k · 185 announced
  12. + Choices MatterFair120 devs · median $2.4k · 150 announced

All 199 pairs on the Sports page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

PBA Pro Bowling 2026 2025 · $494k All-In-One Sports VR 2023 · $420k Premium Bowling 2019 · $280k PBA Pro Bowling 2023 2022 · $92k PBA Pro Bowling 2019 · $81k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
PBA Pro Bowling 2026 $39.99 412 91% 12k $494k (exactly $494,276) FarSight Studios
All-In-One Sports VR older $19.99 700 84% 21k $420k (exactly $419,790) Appnori Inc.
Premium Bowling older $19.99 467 93% 14k $280k (exactly $280,060) Sadetta
PBA Pro Bowling 2023 older $29.99 102 68% 3.1k $92k (exactly $91,769) FarSight Studios
PBA Pro Bowling older $14.99 180 78% 5.4k $81k (exactly $80,946) FarSight Studios
Zombie Bowl-o-Rama older $9.99 218 94% 6.5k $65k (exactly $65,335) MumboJumbo
PBA Pro Bowling 2021 older $14.99 102 84% 3.1k $46k (exactly $45,869) FarSight Studios
VR SUPER SPORTS older $12.99 115 56% 3.5k $45k (exactly $44,816) SAT-BOX
Golden Tee Arcade Classics $29.99 45 86% 1.4k $40k (exactly $40,486) Digital Eclipse
SPORTAL $7.99 57 94% 1.7k $14k (exactly $13,663) Sleepwalking Potatoes
Bowlers : The bowling experience $15.99 10 80% 300 $4.8k (exactly $4,797) Solid9Games
BOWLOUT $1.99 43 95% 1.3k $2.6k (exactly $2,567) Sep Horsthuis, Quint Winter
Skyline Bowling $4.99 11 72% 330 $1.6k (exactly $1,647) VOODOO
Pin Money $6.99 3 100% 90 $629 (exactly $629) thirtysmooth
Bolf $2.99 7 57% 210 $628 (exactly $628) SimTenero
Bowling Simulator · EA $5.99 2 0% 60 $359 (exactly $359) Hard Shark Games
Pinbowling $2.99 2 100% 60 $179 (exactly $179) Outstanding Duck

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