Games › Co-op › Co-op + Underwater
Should I ship an Underwater Co-op game?
Co-op + Underwater
Of 32 developers who shipped an Underwater 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.. 34 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $9.1k, ×6.1 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.3k; 1 in 20 cleared $100M, ×70181 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 34 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.3k (exactly $1,256) |
|---|---|
| Median | $9.1k (exactly $9,109) |
| Top 25% | $296k (exactly $296,403) |
| Top 5% | $105M (exactly $105,131,744) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 32 |
| Released games | 66 |
| Announced | 34 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 55% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, 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
- Underwater
- 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; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 67% positive over 332,433 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.3k. 5 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Co-op with a different setting or mood, 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
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
Comparable games
Monster Hunter Wilds 2025 · $241M 
Raft 2022 · $194M 
Subnautica 2 2026 · EA · $105M 
Barotrauma 2023 · $65M 
Stranded Deep 2022 · $26M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Monster Hunter Wilds | $39.99 | 200,984 52% | 6.0M | $241M (exactly $241,120,505) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
| | Raft | older | $19.99 | 323,481 93% | 9.7M | $194M (exactly $193,991,556) | Redbeet Interactive |
| | Subnautica 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 116,852 91% | 3.5M | $105M (exactly $105,131,744) | Unknown Worlds Entertainment |
| | Barotrauma | older | $34.99 | 61,905 94% | 1.9M | $65M (exactly $64,981,678) | FakeFish, Undertow Games |
| | Stranded Deep | older | $19.99 | 43,628 74% | 1.3M | $26M (exactly $26,163,712) | Beam Team Games |
 | Depth | older | $19.99 | 23,590 89% | 708k | $14M (exactly $14,146,923) | Ammobox Studios |
 | SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated | older | $29.99 | 14,439 94% | 433k | $13M (exactly $12,990,768) | Purple Lamp |
 | Sunkenland | · EA older | $19.99 | 20,536 80% | 616k | $12M (exactly $12,315,439) | Vector3 Studio |
 | Feed and Grow: Fish | · EA older | $14.99 | 20,750 78% | 623k | $9.3M (exactly $9,331,275) | Old B1ood |
 | Abyssus | $24.99 | 5,014 84% | 150k | $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996) | DoubleMoose Games | |
 | Voyagers of Nera | · EA | $29.99 | 2,022 83% | 61k | $1.8M (exactly $1,819,193) | Treehouse Games |
 | IfSunSets | · EA | $19.99 | 2,284 74% | 69k | $1.4M (exactly $1,369,715) | POLYMORPH |
 | Ultimate Fishing® Simulator 2 | $19.99 | 2,077 66% | 62k | $1.2M (exactly $1,245,577) | Silent Bear Studio, SHINING GAMES | |
 | Project Castaway | $19.99 | 1,815 64% | 54k | $1.1M (exactly $1,088,456) | Mardonpol Inc. | |
 | Darkwater | $9.99 | 989 77% | 30k | $296k (exactly $296,403) | Targon Studios | |
 | Real VR Fishing | $19.99 | 184 73% | 5.5k | $110k (exactly $110,345) | Devs United Games, Inc | |
 | Deep Blue Sushi | · EA | $14.99 | 212 75% | 6.4k | $95k (exactly $95,336) | PaperPixel Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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