Games › Fighting › Fighting + Physics
Should I ship a Physics Fighting game?
Fighting + Physics
Of 44 developers who shipped a Physics Fighting 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.. 83 more are announced, ×4.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×2.0 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $550k, ×367 the market median. Revenue is up 75% on the market; 83 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,936) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $20,374) |
| Top 5% | $550k (exactly $550,216) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 44 |
| Released games | 179 |
| Announced | 83 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 75% on the market, supply 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Fighting, Physics; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, 3D Fighter, Combat
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Funny, Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 82,765 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 26 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 83 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Fighting with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SandboxStrong odds
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + Dark FantasyPoor odds
- + Souls-likePoor odds
- + SwordplayPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CyberpunkPoor odds
- + Local Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + AdventurePoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO | $49.99 | 50,395 86% | 1.5M | $76M (exactly $75,577,382) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | |
| | Blade and Sorcery | older | $29.99 | 59,074 96% | 1.8M | $53M (exactly $53,148,878) | WarpFrog |
| | Party Animals | older | $19.99 | 56,043 81% | 1.7M | $34M (exactly $33,608,987) | Recreate Games |
| | Gang Beasts | older | $19.99 | 54,880 85% | 1.6M | $33M (exactly $32,911,536) | Boneloaf, Rocket Science |
| | Half Sword | · EA | $24.99 | 28,656 71% | 860k | $21M (exactly $21,483,403) | Half Sword Games |
| | Paint the Town Red | older | $19.99 | 29,141 96% | 874k | $17M (exactly $17,475,858) | South East Games |
| | Stick Fight: The Game | older | $4.99 | 99,952 93% | 3.0M | $15M (exactly $14,962,814) | Landfall West |
| | ROUNDS | older | $5.99 | 35,738 95% | 1.1M | $6.4M (exactly $6,422,119) | Landfall |
| | Hellish Quart | · EA older | $17.99 | 8,068 88% | 242k | $4.4M (exactly $4,354,300) | Kubold |
| | Overgrowth | older | $19.99 | 6,202 86% | 186k | $3.7M (exactly $3,719,339) | Wolfire Games |
| | Gladio Mori | $15.99 | 1,147 82% | 34k | $550k (exactly $550,216) | Plebeian Studio | |
| | A Gentlemen's Dispute | $7.99 | 1,199 94% | 36k | $287k (exactly $287,400) | Blast Furnace Games | |
| | Monster: Titan's Playground | · EA | $29.99 | 273 91% | 8.2k | $246k (exactly $245,618) | Stellar Knights |
| | Last Drop | · EA | $13.99 | 278 87% | 8.3k | $117k (exactly $116,677) | Lohkare Games Oy |
| | King of Bones | $7.99 | 316 85% | 9.5k | $76k (exactly $75,745) | Gluten Free Games | |
| | Pull Stay | $16.99 | 125 97% | 3.8k | $64k (exactly $63,712) | Nito Souji | |
| | Elements Divided | $14.99 | 137 86% | 4.1k | $62k (exactly $61,609) | Loco Motion Devs | |
| | Knock'Em Out | $7.99 | 239 85% | 7.2k | $57k (exactly $57,288) | BBear Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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