Games › Economy › Economy + Local Multiplayer
Should I ship a Local Multiplayer Economy game?
Economy + Local Multiplayer
Only 17 developers shipped a Local Multiplayer Economy 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, EA SPORTS FC™ 26, 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, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $200M, ×333588 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 25 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $450 (exactly $450) |
|---|---|
| Median | $899 (exactly $899) |
| Top 25% | $32k (exactly $31,555) |
| Top 5% | $209M (exactly $209,493,368) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 49 |
| Announced | 25 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $12.99 |
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 25% on the market, supply 70% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Economy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Local Multiplayer
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Economy, Local Multiplayer; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Sports, Strategy
- Price point
- $12.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $12.99.
The top 10 games average 50% positive over 100,627 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 7 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 25 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Economy with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Football (Soccer)Fair
- + ScienceFair
- + MiningFair
- + LootFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + God GameFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
Comparable games
EA SPORTS FC™ 26 2025 · $209M 
Wingspan 2020 · $5.9M 
Football, Tactics & Glory 2018 · $3.0M 
Sid Meier's Civilization® IV 2006 · $1.7M 
WE ARE FOOTBALL 2024 2024 · $901k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | EA SPORTS FC™ 26 | $69.99 | 99,773 50% | 3.0M | $209M (exactly $209,493,368) | EA Canada, EA Romania | |
| | Wingspan | older | $19.99 | 9,807 94% | 294k | $5.9M (exactly $5,881,258) | Monster Couch |
| | Football, Tactics & Glory | older | $24.99 | 3,998 87% | 120k | $3.0M (exactly $2,997,301) | Creoteam |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization® IV | older | $19.99 | 2,789 92% | 84k | $1.7M (exactly $1,672,563) | Firaxis Games |
| | WE ARE FOOTBALL 2024 | older | $39.99 | 751 79% | 23k | $901k (exactly $900,975) | Winning Streak Games GmbH |
 | Tennis Elbow Manager 2 | older | $29.99 | 202 91% | 6.1k | $182k (exactly $181,739) | Mana Games |
 | Kingdom, Dungeon, and Hero | older | $29.99 | 168 76% | 5.0k | $151k (exactly $151,150) | Kraken Studios |
 | Axis Football 2024 | older | $19.99 | 207 71% | 6.2k | $124k (exactly $124,138) | Axis Games |
 | Franchise Hockey Manager 10 | older | $19.99 | 200 81% | 6.0k | $120k (exactly $119,940) | Out of the Park Developments, game54 So… (Out of the Park Developments, game54 Software) |
 | Concordia: Digital Edition | older | $19.99 | 167 83% | 5.0k | $100k (exactly $100,150) | Acram Digital |
 | DSS 2: War Industry | $17.99 | 183 83% | 5.5k | $99k (exactly $98,765) | vikingfabian | |
 | Franchise Hockey Manager 11 | $19.99 | 148 70% | 4.4k | $89k (exactly $88,756) | game54 Software, Out of the Park Develo… (game54 Software, Out of the Park Developments) | |
 | Franchise Hockey Manager 12 | $19.99 | 132 78% | 4.0k | $79k (exactly $79,160) | game54 Software, Out of the Park Develo… (game54 Software, Out of the Park Developments) | |
 | Axis Football 2026 | $19.99 | 115 75% | 3.5k | $69k (exactly $68,966) | Axis Games | |
 | Mittelland AD | $8.99 | 117 96% | 3.5k | $32k (exactly $31,555) | BKM | |
 | Axis Football 2027 | $19.99 | 44 72% | 1.3k | $26k (exactly $26,387) | Axis Games | |
 | Road Food Simulator | $12.99 | 38 57% | 1.1k | $15k (exactly $14,809) | 2MEDYA | |
 | Fortune Avenue | · EA | $6.99 | 63 84% | 1.9k | $13k (exactly $13,211) | Binogure Studio 🐺 |
 | Global Business Tycoon | $12.99 | 14 57% | 420 | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) | Virox Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.