Do I ship it?

Games › Grid-Based Movement › Grid-Based Movement + Logic

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Grid-Based Movement Logic game?

Grid-Based Movement + Logic

Of 280 developers who shipped a Grid-Based Movement Logic 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.. 266 more are announced.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $420, ×0.9 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90; 1 in 20 cleared $13k, ×29 the market median. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 266 games are announced against 158 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.9 times the market baseline, revenue down 30% on the market, 266 announced, ×1.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Grid-Based Movement + Logic
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 280
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.4k → $1.2k → $1.4k → $599 → $719 → $300 → $208 (still earning) → $239 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Grid-Based Movement + Logic: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 280
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $419 (exactly $419)
Top 25% $1.8k (exactly $1,797)
Top 5% $14k (exactly $13,786)
Developers, 2 yr 280
Released games 757
Announced 266
Effort 3 / 10
AI-buildability High
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 30% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, 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 high: the lowest rating among its tags.

Grid-Based Movement
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
Logic
effort 2 / 10 · high · deductive rules and grids

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
Systems
Grid-Based Movement, Logic; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Puzzle, Sokoban, Strategy
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Cute
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 1,404 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $90, median $420, 1 in 4 over $1.7k, 1 in 20 over $13k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. Nearly all of the 130 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 266 games are announced against 158 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Grid-Based Movement with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + HistoricalFair22 devs · median $3.0k · 30 announced
  2. + EconomyFair20 devs · median $1.2k · 29 announced
  3. + AutomationFair28 devs · median $959 · 26 announced
  4. + MiningFair12 devs · median $899 · 14 announced
  5. + CollectathonFair17 devs · median $809 · 17 announced
  6. + BuildingFair50 devs · median $719 · 57 announced
  7. + HackingFair14 devs · median $719 · 11 announced
  8. + SokobanFair143 devs · median $657 · 135 announced
  9. + ProgrammingFair23 devs · median $599 · 24 announced
  10. + DogsFair14 devs · median $599 · 7 announced
  11. + PlatformerFair23 devs · median $539 · 18 announced
  12. + Puzzle PlatformerFair62 devs · median $449 · 56 announced

All 126 pairs on the Grid-Based Movement page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

XCOM® 2 2016 · $48M Cobalt Core 2023 · $2.4M Can of Wormholes 2023 · $338k Spaceland: Sci-Fi Indie Tactics 2019 · $215k Maxwell's puzzling demon 2024 · $186k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
XCOM® 2 older $19.99 79,998 84% 2.4M $48M (exactly $47,974,801) Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac),… (Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux))
Cobalt Core older $19.99 4,067 95% 122k $2.4M (exactly $2,438,980) Rocket Rat Games
Can of Wormholes older $19.99 563 99% 17k $338k (exactly $337,631) munted finger
Spaceland: Sci-Fi Indie Tactics older $19.99 358 75% 11k $215k (exactly $214,693) Tortuga Team
Maxwell's puzzling demon older $14.99 413 98% 12k $186k (exactly $185,726) muratsubo Games
Save Room - Organization Puzzle older $2.99 2,033 97% 61k $182k (exactly $182,360) Fractal Projects
About Love, Hate and the other ones older $7.99 626 90% 19k $150k (exactly $150,052) Black Pants Studio
Gentoo Rescue $19.99 237 99% 7.1k $142k (exactly $142,129) Jagriff
Linelith older $2.99 1,438 98% 43k $129k (exactly $128,989) Patrick Traynor
GRIDROAD $9.99 385 82% 12k $115k (exactly $115,384) RAJACORP
Loophole $9.99 154 99% 4.6k $46k (exactly $46,154) Levi Pinkert
Axyz $11.99 120 99% 3.6k $43k (exactly $43,164) Space Lion Studios
Tiny Garden $12.99 108 85% 3.2k $42k (exactly $42,088) Ao Norte
Puzzle Depot $19.99 61 100% 1.8k $37k (exactly $36,582) Laughing Manatee Games
Toroban $20.00 60 86% 1.8k $36k (exactly $36,000) Hebert Games LLC
HAMSTERMIND $12.99 73 97% 2.2k $28k (exactly $28,448) Righteous Tree
Mewseum: Masterpieces $6.99 133 98% 4.0k $28k (exactly $27,890) Climbing Goat Games
Sokogram $9.99 73 94% 2.2k $22k (exactly $21,878) PressGtoGeorge

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