Games › Immersive Sim › Immersive Sim + Sports
Should I ship a Sports Immersive Sim?
Immersive Sim + Sports
Of 182 developers who shipped a Sports Immersive Sim 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.. 185 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×1.6 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $240. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 185 games are announced against 109 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $240 (exactly $240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) |
| Top 25% | $25k (exactly $25,187) |
| Top 5% | $455k (exactly $454,647) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 182 |
| Released games | 530 |
| Announced | 185 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 10% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Immersive Sim
- effort 8 / 10 · low · effort 8 sits in the low band
- Sports
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Immersive Sim, Sports; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Management, Physics
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic, First-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 72% positive over 85,044 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 7 in 10 of the 104 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 185 games are announced against 109 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Immersive Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Trading Card GameStrong odds
- + MinigamesStrong odds
- + WesternStrong odds
- + BoxingStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + RomanceFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Split ScreenFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | theHunter: Call of the Wild™ | older | $19.99 | 170,472 89% | 5.1M | $102M (exactly $102,232,058) | Expansive Worlds |
| | NBA 2K25 | older | $69.99 | 30,969 60% | 929k | $65M (exactly $65,025,609) | Visual Concepts |
| | NBA 2K26 | $69.99 | 25,651 66% | 770k | $54M (exactly $53,859,405) | Visual Concepts | |
| | Undisputed | $49.99 | 19,190 60% | 576k | $29M (exactly $28,779,243) | Steel City Interactive | |
| | Forza Motorsport | older | $69.99 | 12,148 51% | 364k | $26M (exactly $25,507,156) | Turn 10 |
| | Le Mans Ultimate | $39.99 | 15,068 79% | 452k | $18M (exactly $18,077,080) | Studio 397 | |
| | Session: Skate Sim | older | $39.99 | 13,460 83% | 404k | $16M (exactly $16,147,962) | crea-ture Studios Inc. |
| | Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing | older | $19.99 | 13,633 95% | 409k | $8.2M (exactly $8,175,710) | LuGus Studios |
| | Assetto Corsa Rally | · EA | $29.99 | 8,757 87% | 263k | $7.9M (exactly $7,878,673) | Supernova Games Studios |
| | F1® Manager 2024 | older | $34.99 | 5,554 83% | 167k | $5.8M (exactly $5,830,034) | Frontier Developments |
| | 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 | |
| | NBA 2K27 | $69.99 | 1,698 53% | 51k | $3.6M (exactly $3,565,291) | Visual Concepts | |
| | Project Motor Racing | $39.99 | 1,181 45% | 35k | $1.4M (exactly $1,416,846) | Straight4 Studios | |
| | Ultimate Fishing® Simulator 2 | $19.99 | 2,077 66% | 62k | $1.2M (exactly $1,245,577) | Silent Bear Studio, SHINING GAMES | |
| | PBA Pro Bowling 2026 | $39.99 | 412 91% | 12k | $494k (exactly $494,276) | FarSight 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.