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Should I ship a Co-op Transportation game?
Co-op + Transportation
Only 17 developers shipped a Co-op Transportation 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, RoadCraft, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 25 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $370k, ×246 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $7.2k; 1 in 20 cleared $16M, ×10833 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 25 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $7.2k (exactly $7,191) |
|---|---|
| Median | $369k (exactly $368,916) |
| Top 25% | $893k (exactly $893,402) |
| Top 5% | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 42 |
| Announced | 25 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $17.99 |
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 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Co-op
- effort 7 / 10 · low · co-op on Steam means online sessions and drop-in sync
- Transportation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Co-op, Transportation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Simulation, Immersive Sim
- Price point
- $17.99 typical · top 25% priced $34.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $34.99 or above; the middle game at $17.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 29,171 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $7.2k. 3 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 25 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Co-op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SuperheroFair
- + Boomer ShooterFair
- + GamblingFair
- + NinjaFair
- + TypingLong shot
- + Word GameLong shot
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
| | Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit Remastered | older | $29.99 | 13,583 81% | 407k | $12M (exactly $12,220,625) | Stellar Entertainment Limited |
| | SimRail - The Railway Simulator | $34.99 | 5,307 85% | 159k | $5.6M (exactly $5,570,758) | SimRail S.A. | |
| | Train Sim World® 2 | older | $19.99 | 7,066 82% | 212k | $4.2M (exactly $4,237,480) | Dovetail Games |
| | Bus Simulator 18 | older | $14.99 | 8,779 79% | 263k | $3.9M (exactly $3,947,916) | stillalive studios |
| | Expeditions: A MudRunner Game | older | $39.99 | 3,000 59% | 90k | $3.6M (exactly $3,599,100) | Saber Interactive |
| | Railroader | · EA older | $29.99 | 3,343 96% | 100k | $3.0M (exactly $3,007,697) | Giraffe Lab LLC |
| | Railway Empire 2 | older | $49.99 | 1,966 72% | 59k | $2.9M (exactly $2,948,410) | Gaming Minds Studios |
| | Mars First Logistics | $19.99 | 3,497 94% | 105k | $2.1M (exactly $2,097,151) | Shape Shop | |
| | Seafarer: The Ship Sim | · EA | $34.99 | 1,921 64% | 58k | $2.0M (exactly $2,016,474) | astragon Development |
| | Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator | $29.99 | 993 50% | 30k | $893k (exactly $893,402) | Aesir Interactive | |
| | Bus Bound | $29.99 | 886 72% | 27k | $797k (exactly $797,134) | stillalive studios | |
| | Ore Factory Squad ⛏️ | $12.99 | 1,646 87% | 49k | $641k (exactly $641,446) | threeW | |
| | Bus Simulator 27 | $29.99 | 489 59% | 15k | $440k (exactly $439,953) | Simteract | |
| | Fuel Harvest Together | $13.99 | 879 69% | 26k | $369k (exactly $368,916) | Say2Sun | |
| | Uh Oh Airlines | · EA | $17.99 | 26 69% | 780 | $14k (exactly $14,032) | Bomas Game Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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