Games › Puzzle › Puzzle + Cold War
Should I ship a Cold-War Puzzle game?
Puzzle + Cold War
Only 16 developers shipped a Cold-War Puzzle 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, Kvark, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 29 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $10k, ×16 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $270k, ×440 the market median. Revenue is up 15% on the market; 29 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $479 (exactly $479) |
|---|---|
| Median | $10k (exactly $10,195) |
| Top 25% | $26k (exactly $26,374) |
| Top 5% | $276k (exactly $276,462) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 59 |
| Announced | 29 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 up 15% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Puzzle
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 1,035 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 6 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Puzzle with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Medical SimFair
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + VampiresFair
- + CatsFair
- + DemonsFair
- + God GameFair
- + RomanceFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + LemmingsFair
Comparable games
I Expect You To Die 2017 · $1.6M 
I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar 2021 · $879k 
Red Matter 2018 · $745k 
I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine 2023 · $452k 
Kvark 2024 · $276k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | I Expect You To Die | older | $24.99 | 2,169 95% | 65k | $1.6M (exactly $1,626,099) | Schell Games |
| | I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar | older | $24.99 | 1,172 96% | 35k | $879k (exactly $878,648) | Schell Games |
| | Red Matter | older | $24.99 | 994 90% | 30k | $745k (exactly $745,202) | Vertical Robot |
| | I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine | older | $24.99 | 603 91% | 18k | $452k (exactly $452,069) | Schell Games |
| | Kvark | $19.99 | 461 86% | 14k | $276k (exactly $276,462) | Latest Past, Perun Creative | |
 | The Ball | older | $9.99 | 830 74% | 25k | $249k (exactly $248,751) | Teotl Studios |
 | Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love | older | $19.99 | 396 86% | 12k | $237k (exactly $237,481) | Artifex Mundi |
 | Save Jesus | older | $4.99 | 1,482 90% | 44k | $222k (exactly $221,855) | Almighty Games |
 | Mahjong | older | $9.99 | 589 84% | 18k | $177k (exactly $176,523) | Sanuk Games |
 | NODE | $24.99 | 146 91% | 4.4k | $109k (exactly $109,456) | Lapsus Games | |
 | 60 Minutes to Extinction: Escape Room | $7.99 | 153 82% | 4.6k | $37k (exactly $36,674) | mc2games | |
 | Nuclear Design Bureau | · EA | $9.99 | 88 79% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,374) | Design Bureau KB-11 |
 | What Awaits, Aleksey? | $15.99 | 51 86% | 1.5k | $24k (exactly $24,465) | JKBC | |
 | Missile Command Delta | $19.99 | 31 83% | 930 | $19k (exactly $18,591) | 13AM Games, Mighty Yell | |
 | QuantumPulse 2A | $11.99 | 30 93% | 900 | $11k (exactly $10,791) | Dashing Strike | |
 | The Core | · EA | $19.99 | 17 70% | 510 | $10k (exactly $10,195) | Electric Machine Games |
 | Project Looking Glass | $4.99 | 47 100% | 1.4k | $7.0k (exactly $7,036) | MORPH | |
 | Cold Calling | $14.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $4.9k (exactly $4,947) | Can't Get Enough Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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