Games › Sports › Sports + Exploration
Should I ship an Exploration Sports game?
Sports + Exploration
Of 110 developers who shipped an Exploration Sports 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.. 155 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×3.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $3.6M, ×5787 the market median. Revenue is down 40% on the market; 155 games are announced against 51 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $597 (exactly $597) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,246) |
| Top 25% | $42k (exactly $41,734) |
| Top 5% | $3.6M (exactly $3,633,952) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 110 |
| Released games | 442 |
| Announced | 155 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 40% on the market, supply 20% fewer 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.
- Sports
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Exploration
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sports, Exploration; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Physics, Racing
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic, Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 138,766 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 82 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 155 games are announced against 51 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Sports with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dynamic NarrationStrong odds
- + CraftingFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
- + SandboxFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + FMVFair
- + BikesFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Choices MatterFair
Comparable games
Forza Horizon 5 2021 · $468M 
Forza Horizon 6 2026 · $182M 
Steep™ 2016 · $28M 
Cairn 2026 · $16M 
Session: Skate Sim 2022 · $16M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Forza Horizon 5 | older | $59.99 | 260,218 89% | 7.8M | $468M (exactly $468,314,335) | Playground Games |
| | Forza Horizon 6 | $69.99 | 86,730 82% | 2.6M | $182M (exactly $182,106,981) | Playground Games | |
| | Steep™ | older | $29.99 | 30,589 82% | 918k | $28M (exactly $27,520,923) | Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ub… (Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Kiev) |
| | Cairn | $29.99 | 18,224 94% | 547k | $16M (exactly $16,396,133) | The Game Bakers | |
| | Session: Skate Sim | older | $39.99 | 13,460 83% | 404k | $16M (exactly $16,147,962) | crea-ture Studios Inc. |
 | CarX Street | older | $19.99 | 17,600 72% | 528k | $11M (exactly $10,554,720) | CarX Technologies, LLC |
 | Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing | older | $19.99 | 13,633 95% | 409k | $8.2M (exactly $8,175,710) | LuGus Studios |
 | Way of the Hunter | older | $29.99 | 8,528 81% | 256k | $7.7M (exactly $7,672,642) | Nine Rocks Games |
 | Call of the Wild: The Angler™ | older | $29.99 | 6,122 63% | 184k | $5.5M (exactly $5,507,963) | Expansive Worlds |
 | JDM: Japanese Drift Master | $34.99 | 5,217 75% | 157k | $5.5M (exactly $5,476,285) | Gaming Factory | |
 | Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game | $24.99 | 6,638 94% | 199k | $5.0M (exactly $4,976,509) | MLMEDIA | |
 | Sledders | $29.99 | 4,372 95% | 131k | $3.9M (exactly $3,933,488) | Hanki Games | |
 | Super Battle Golf | $12.99 | 9,325 93% | 280k | $3.6M (exactly $3,633,952) | Brimstone | |
 | ScooterFlow | $19.99 | 3,975 95% | 119k | $2.4M (exactly $2,383,808) | UncannyKiwi Limited | |
 | STORROR Parkour Pro | · EA | $24.99 | 1,605 71% | 48k | $1.2M (exactly $1,203,268) | Hole in the Sleeve Game Studios |
 | Beastieball | · EA | $24.99 | 1,483 97% | 44k | $1.1M (exactly $1,111,805) | Wishes Ultd. |
 | Driftwood | $19.99 | 1,197 92% | 36k | $718k (exactly $717,841) | Stoked Sloth Interactive |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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