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Should I ship a Building Local Co-Op game?
Building + Local Co-Op
Of 21 developers who shipped a Building Local Co-Op 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.. 51 more are announced, ×8.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90; 1 in 20 cleared $720k, ×1148 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 51 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $896 (exactly $896) |
| Top 25% | $73k (exactly $72,860) |
| Top 5% | $721k (exactly $720,660) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 21 |
| Released games | 105 |
| Announced | 51 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 down 95% on the market, supply 60% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Building
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Local Co-Op
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building, Local Co-Op; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Co-op, Online Co-Op, Puzzle
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, Cute, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 3,624 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. 7 in 10 of the 18 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 51 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×8.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + CatsFair
- + TabletopFair
- + Grid-Based MovementFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + Vehicular CombatPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + CrimePoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
Comparable games
Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition 2020 · $42M 
PlateUp! 2022 · $11M 
Portal Knights 2017 · $10M 
Wingspan 2020 · $5.9M 
Tricky Towers 2016 · $5.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition | older | $29.99 | 47,176 94% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,444,247) | Thunder Lotus |
| | PlateUp! | older | $19.99 | 18,500 94% | 555k | $11M (exactly $11,094,450) | It's happening |
| | Portal Knights | older | $19.99 | 16,885 83% | 507k | $10M (exactly $10,125,934) | Keen Games GmbH |
| | Wingspan | older | $19.99 | 9,807 94% | 294k | $5.9M (exactly $5,881,258) | Monster Couch |
| | Tricky Towers | older | $14.99 | 12,390 90% | 372k | $5.6M (exactly $5,571,783) | WeirdBeard |
 | LEGO® Jurassic World | older | $19.99 | 7,797 92% | 234k | $4.7M (exactly $4,675,861) | TT Games Ltd |
 | The LEGO® Movie - Videogame | older | $19.99 | 3,626 86% | 109k | $2.2M (exactly $2,174,512) | TT Fusion, Traveller's Tales |
 | LEGO® Voyagers | $24.99 | 1,859 88% | 56k | $1.4M (exactly $1,393,692) | Light Brick Studio | |
 | Kingdom Eighties | older | $11.99 | 3,001 75% | 90k | $1.1M (exactly $1,079,460) | Fury Studios |
 | DG2: Defense Grid 2 | older | $9.99 | 2,704 86% | 81k | $810k (exactly $810,389) | Hidden Path Entertainment |
 | World of Goo 2 | $29.99 | 801 87% | 24k | $721k (exactly $720,660) | 2D BOY, Tomorrow Corporation | |
 | Night Club Simulator | · EA | $14.99 | 290 60% | 8.7k | $130k (exactly $130,413) | Clock Wizard Games |
 | Summer Islands | $14.99 | 190 81% | 5.7k | $85k (exactly $85,443) | Marttalin Games | |
 | Mythmatch | $19.99 | 124 98% | 3.7k | $74k (exactly $74,363) | Team Artichoke | |
 | Keep Keepers | $17.99 | 135 87% | 4.1k | $73k (exactly $72,860) | Thunderrock Innovations | |
 | Dooms Hair Salon | $9.99 | 134 89% | 4.0k | $40k (exactly $40,160) | Slimebox | |
 | Monarchy | $14.99 | 47 78% | 1.4k | $21k (exactly $21,136) | Brain Seal Ltd | |
 | Reaktor | $6.99 | 22 90% | 660 | $4.6k (exactly $4,613) | Reaktor Games | |
 | Sidewalk Simulator | · EA | $3.99 | 22 95% | 660 | $2.6k (exactly $2,633) | XCCWARE LLC |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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