Do I ship it?

Games › Building › Building + Platformer

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Building Platformer?

Building + Platformer

Of 51 developers who shipped a Building Platformer 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.. 95 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 30 developers shipped in the last year and 95 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 170% on the market, 95 announced, ×3.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Building + Platformer
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 51
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $538 → $150 → $897 → $359 → $449 → $330 → $239 (still earning) → $3.5k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Building + Platformer: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 51
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $359 (exactly $359)
Top 25% $3.6k (exactly $3,598)
Top 5% $945k (exactly $945,269)
Developers, 2 yr 51
Released games 193
Announced 95
Effort 5 / 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 170% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 23%, 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.

Building
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Platformer
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Building, Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Simulation
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Funny, Pixel Graphics, Comedy
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 11,945 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $360, 1 in 4 over $3.5k, 1 in 20 over $940k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 28 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 95 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Job SimulatorStrong odds66 devs · median $28k · 70 announced
  2. + CatsFair52 devs · median $4.5k · 59 announced
  3. + TabletopFair56 devs · median $1.9k · 58 announced
  4. + Grid-Based MovementFair50 devs · median $719 · 57 announced
  5. + Interactive FictionFair17 devs · median $449 · 20 announced
  6. + Vehicular CombatPoor odds14 devs · median $303k · 40 announced
  7. + JRPGPoor odds10 devs · median $89k · 20 announced
  8. + Dating SimPoor odds28 devs · median $85k · 61 announced
  9. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds112 devs · median $71k · 251 announced
  10. + Real-TimePoor odds14 devs · median $62k · 20 announced
  11. + CrimePoor odds13 devs · median $55k · 52 announced
  12. + SailingPoor odds13 devs · median $52k · 40 announced

All 210 pairs on the Building page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Terraria 2011 · $372M Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition 2020 · $42M DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS™ 2 2019 · $10M The Pedestrian 2020 · $3.1M The LEGO® Movie - Videogame 2014 · $2.2M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Terraria older $9.99 1,240,388 97% 37M $372M (exactly $371,744,284) Re-Logic
Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition older $29.99 47,176 94% 1.4M $42M (exactly $42,444,247) Thunder Lotus
DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS™ 2 older $49.99 6,888 92% 207k $10M (exactly $10,329,934) Square Enix, KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.
The Pedestrian older $19.99 5,173 96% 155k $3.1M (exactly $3,102,248) Skookum Arts
The LEGO® Movie - Videogame older $19.99 3,626 86% 109k $2.2M (exactly $2,174,512) TT Fusion, Traveller's Tales
Doloc Town $19.99 3,166 94% 95k $1.9M (exactly $1,898,650) RedSaw Games Studio
Get To Work $12.99 3,456 88% 104k $1.3M (exactly $1,346,803) Isto Inc.
Train Valley 2 older $14.99 2,356 90% 71k $1.1M (exactly $1,059,493) Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timof… (Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm)
Planet Centauri $14.99 2,102 75% 63k $945k (exactly $945,269) Permadeath
Edge of Space older $14.99 1,946 31% 58k $875k (exactly $875,116) Handyman Studios
Carry The Glass $4.99 2,839 75% 85k $425k (exactly $424,998) Çağatay Demir, Enes Kaplan
Kentum $17.99 172 75% 5.2k $93k (exactly $92,828) Tlön Industries
Junkster $9.99 56 98% 1.7k $17k (exactly $16,783) Stormcloud Games Limited
FixForce $7.99 36 91% 1.1k $8.6k (exactly $8,629) Surgent Studios
Moon Crashers $7.99 35 62% 1.1k $8.4k (exactly $8,390) Castello Inc
AI Faith: Compute [>_AIFC] $4.99 55 81% 1.7k $8.2k (exactly $8,234) Beneloop.ai
Stack Prootocol $8.99 28 100% 840 $7.6k (exactly $7,552) Dare Looks, Mahmu-Kai

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