Do I ship it?

Games › Local Multiplayer › Local Multiplayer + Chess

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Local Multiplayer Chess game?

Local Multiplayer + Chess

Only 19 developers shipped a Local Multiplayer Chess 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, Hyper Chess, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 23 more are announced.

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. Revenue is down 100% on the market, with 23 games announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.0 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 23 announced, ×1.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Local Multiplayer + Chess
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 19
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.8k → $1.3k → $2.7k → $6.0k → $838 → $0 → $599 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Local Multiplayer + Chess: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 19
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $0 (exactly $0)
Top 25% $628 (exactly $628)
Top 5% $29k (exactly $28,794)
Developers, 2 yr 19
Released games 71
Announced 23
Effort 4 / 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 200% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 17%, 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.

Local Multiplayer
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Chess
effort 1 / 10 · high · fully specified rules and known engines

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Local Multiplayer, Chess; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Board Game, Strategy, PvP
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $7.99 or above
Art
7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $7.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 443 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 $620, 1 in 20 over $28k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 23 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + HockeyStrong odds11 devs · median $3.0k · 12 announced
  2. + Female ProtagonistFair61 devs · median $5.8k · 64 announced
  3. + Action RPGFair43 devs · median $5.5k · 56 announced
  4. + Hex GridFair12 devs · median $4.5k · 14 announced
  5. + ModernFair24 devs · median $3.6k · 16 announced
  6. + WargameFair28 devs · median $3.0k · 28 announced
  7. + TennisFair18 devs · median $2.3k · 10 announced
  8. + Point & ClickFair14 devs · median $2.0k · 8 announced
  9. + Artificial IntelligenceFair26 devs · median $1.8k · 27 announced
  10. + Football (American)Fair13 devs · median $1.8k · 4 announced
  11. + SportsFair196 devs · median $1.6k · 208 announced
  12. + RunnerFair23 devs · median $1.3k · 30 announced

All 174 pairs on the Local Multiplayer page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Frozen Synapse 2011 · $831k Checkmate Showdown 2023 · $115k Chessplosion 2021 · $50k Archon Classic 2010 · $47k Khet 2.0 2014 · $35k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Frozen Synapse older $24.99 1,108 89% 33k $831k (exactly $830,668) Mode 7
Checkmate Showdown older $19.99 192 80% 5.8k $115k (exactly $115,142) BadRez Games
Chessplosion older $11.99 140 95% 4.2k $50k (exactly $50,358) C.T. Matthews
Archon Classic older $9.99 158 83% 4.7k $47k (exactly $47,353) React Games
Khet 2.0 older $9.99 117 89% 3.5k $35k (exactly $35,065) BlueLine Games
Hyper Chess $2.99 321 92% 9.6k $29k (exactly $28,794) Grouch, SuitNtie
Chess older $7.99 101 78% 3.0k $24k (exactly $24,210) Popoko VM Games
Hnefatafl older $9.99 48 100% 1.4k $14k (exactly $14,386) Philippe Schober
Usurper older $9.99 35 82% 1.1k $10k (exactly $10,490) Rogue Brain Studios
CHESS with LASERS older $11.99 28 100% 840 $10k (exactly $10,072) Coreffect Interactive
Chess Kingdom $4.99 45 91% 1.4k $6.7k (exactly $6,736) Pinch Games
Go $7.99 25 72% 750 $6.0k (exactly $5,992) Popoko VM Games
Chinese Chess - Xiangqi $7.99 8 100% 240 $1.9k (exactly $1,918) Popoko VM Games
Chaos Pieces $11.99 5 100% 150 $1.8k (exactly $1,798) Suzuki Ken
Janggi $5.99 8 100% 240 $1.4k (exactly $1,438) Popoko VM Games
Checkers $3.99 10 100% 300 $1.2k (exactly $1,197) Popoko VM Games
Gomoku $3.99 7 71% 210 $838 (exactly $838) Popoko VM Games
Reversi $3.99 7 100% 210 $838 (exactly $838) Popoko VM Games
Dicey Chess $2.99 7 100% 210 $628 (exactly $628) Ibrahim Özhan

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