Do I ship it?

Games › Local Co-Op › Local Co-Op + Dark Fantasy

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Dark-Fantasy Local Co-Op game?

Local Co-Op + Dark Fantasy

Of 40 developers who shipped a Dark-Fantasy Local 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.. 47 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×4.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $480. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 47 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 80% on the market, 47 announced, ×1.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Local Co-Op + Dark Fantasy
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 40
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.8k → $7.3k → $8.6k → $2.7k → $2.6k → $3.4k (still earning) → $300 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Local Co-Op + Dark Fantasy: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 40
Bottom 30% $479 (exactly $479)
Median $2.7k (exactly $2,695)
Top 25% $13k (exactly $12,596)
Top 5% $1.1M (exactly $1,114,243)
Developers, 2 yr 40
Released games 101
Announced 47
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $7.99

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 80% on the market, supply 135% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, 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 Co-Op
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Dark Fantasy
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Local Co-Op; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Co-op
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 7,630 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $480, median $2.7k, 1 in 4 over $12k, 1 in 20 over $1.1M.

3 in 10 developers made under $480. 9 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 47 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Local Co-Op with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + LootStrong odds22 devs · median $7.3k · 21 announced
  2. + LGBTQ+Fair11 devs · median $14k · 12 announced
  3. + Artificial IntelligenceFair16 devs · median $11k · 15 announced
  4. + TriviaFair12 devs · median $7.5k · 13 announced
  5. + Action RPGFair68 devs · median $6.0k · 82 announced
  6. + ModernFair11 devs · median $3.6k · 10 announced
  7. + Board GameFair35 devs · median $2.4k · 41 announced
  8. + Dungeon CrawlerFair49 devs · median $1.8k · 60 announced
  9. + MedievalFair46 devs · median $1.8k · 52 announced
  10. + Immersive SimFair22 devs · median $1.8k · 27 announced
  11. + Point & ClickFair12 devs · median $1.8k · 9 announced
  12. + Turn-Based StrategyFair32 devs · median $1.3k · 41 announced

All 151 pairs on the Local Co-Op page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Vampire Survivors 2022 · $38M Salt and Sanctuary 2016 · $11M Warhammer: Chaosbane 2019 · $2.9M Vikings - Wolves of Midgard 2017 · $2.5M Victor Vran ARPG 2015 · $2.2M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Vampire Survivors older $4.99 251,686 98% 7.6M $38M (exactly $37,677,394) poncle
Salt and Sanctuary older $17.99 20,081 89% 602k $11M (exactly $10,837,716) Ska Studios
Warhammer: Chaosbane older $29.99 3,274 60% 98k $2.9M (exactly $2,945,618) Eko Software
Vikings - Wolves of Midgard older $29.99 2,808 58% 84k $2.5M (exactly $2,526,358) Games Farm
Victor Vran ARPG older $19.99 3,708 84% 111k $2.2M (exactly $2,223,688) Haemimont Games
Dragonkin: The Banished $24.99 2,239 72% 67k $1.7M (exactly $1,678,578) Eko Software
Infernax older $19.99 2,128 93% 64k $1.3M (exactly $1,276,162) Berzerk Studio
Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection older $29.99 1,306 74% 39k $1.2M (exactly $1,175,008) CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition $19.99 1,858 83% 56k $1.1M (exactly $1,114,243) Aspyr Media
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge older $24.99 1,329 80% 40k $996k (exactly $996,351) INTI CREATES CO., LTD.
Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark $29.99 560 65% 17k $504k (exactly $503,832) INTI CREATES CO., LTD.
Noobs Are Coming $7.99 1,580 82% 47k $379k (exactly $378,726) Overboy
Tearscape $14.99 334 90% 10k $150k (exactly $150,200) NERDS TAKE OVER
Abandoned Archive $5.99 749 93% 22k $135k (exactly $134,595) Vedal
Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege $9.99 109 94% 3.3k $33k (exactly $32,667) Lillymo Games
Soul Chained $6.99 149 71% 4.5k $31k (exactly $31,245) Andrew Nicolaou
Sword of the Necromancer: Resurrection $24.99 38 86% 1.1k $28k (exactly $28,489) Grimorio of Games
Castle of Shikigami 3 $29.99 14 85% 420 $13k (exactly $12,596) Cosmo Machia, Alfa System

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