Games › Destruction › Destruction + Puzzle
Should I ship a Puzzle Destruction game?
Destruction + Puzzle
Of 48 developers who shipped a Puzzle Destruction 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.. 70 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×191 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 70 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $2.7k (exactly $2,728) |
| Top 5% | $120k (exactly $119,940) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 48 |
| Released games | 190 |
| Announced | 70 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 85% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Destruction
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Puzzle
- effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Destruction, Puzzle; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Physics
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 5,765 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 70 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Destruction with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Space SimFair
- + ModernFair
- + God GameFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CapitalismPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Automobile SimPoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
Teardown 2022 · $114M 
Besiege 2020 · $22M 
Hardspace: Shipbreaker 2022 · $20M 
ANTONBLAST 2024 · $2.4M 
Electrician Simulator 2022 · $2.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Teardown | older | $29.99 | 126,563 95% | 3.8M | $114M (exactly $113,868,731) | Tuxedo Labs |
| | Besiege | older | $14.99 | 48,045 95% | 1.4M | $22M (exactly $21,605,836) | Spiderling Studios |
| | Hardspace: Shipbreaker | older | $34.99 | 19,431 89% | 583k | $20M (exactly $20,396,721) | Blackbird Interactive |
| | ANTONBLAST | $19.99 | 3,943 95% | 118k | $2.4M (exactly $2,364,617) | Summitsphere | |
| | Electrician Simulator | older | $17.99 | 4,061 80% | 122k | $2.2M (exactly $2,191,722) | Take IT Studio! |
 | House Builder | older | $19.99 | 2,194 79% | 66k | $1.3M (exactly $1,315,742) | FreeMind S.A. |
 | Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break | older | $14.99 | 1,259 78% | 38k | $566k (exactly $566,172) | ACE Team, Giant Monkey Robot |
 | Turbo Dismount® 2 | $19.99 | 753 95% | 23k | $452k (exactly $451,574) | Secret Exit Ltd. | |
 | Rain on Your Parade | older | $14.99 | 727 96% | 22k | $327k (exactly $326,932) | Unbound Creations |
 | Hasbro's BATTLESHIP | older | $12.49 | 828 82% | 25k | $310k (exactly $310,252) | Marmalade Game Studio Ltd |
 | Terra Firma 2 | · EA | $19.99 | 200 92% | 6.0k | $120k (exactly $119,940) | Working as Intended |
 | DigDigDrill | $3.99 | 607 95% | 18k | $73k (exactly $72,658) | Toorai | |
 | The Strange City | $14.99 | 65 47% | 2.0k | $29k (exactly $29,230) | Newmatic Co., Ltd. | |
 | Nuclear Design Bureau | · EA | $9.99 | 88 79% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,374) | Design Bureau KB-11 |
 | Drywall Eating Simulator | $9.99 | 50 76% | 1.5k | $15k (exactly $14,985) | Peripheral Playbox | |
 | The Core | · EA | $19.99 | 17 70% | 510 | $10k (exactly $10,195) | Electric Machine Games |
 | Star Mining Co. | $8.99 | 29 82% | 870 | $7.8k (exactly $7,821) | Barney Whiteman | |
 | Crash Puzzle Hammer-San | $9.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) | SUCCESS Corp. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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