Games › Runner › Runner + Incremental
Should I ship an Incremental Runner?
Runner + Incremental
Only 16 developers shipped an Incremental Runner 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, Progress Racer RPG, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 9 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $59 in the last 2 years and $59 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 3 / 10 build. 9 developers shipped in the last year and 9 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $59 (exactly $59) |
| Top 25% | $628 (exactly $628) |
| Top 5% | $24k (exactly $23,900) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 56 |
| Announced | 9 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $2.99 |
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Runner
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Runner, Incremental
- Price point
- $2.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 8 games average 93% positive over 168 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 9 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Runner with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + LootFair
- + Local MultiplayerFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + FPSLong shot
- + 4 Player LocalPoor odds
- + MusicPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Interactive FictionPoor odds
Comparable games
Music Racer 2018 · $199k 
绝命游歌 2024 · $33k 
SUPER 56 2023 · $31k 
Progress Racer RPG 2025 · $24k 
Infectious 2020 · $9.2k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Music Racer | older | $1.99 | 3,332 87% | 100k | $199k (exactly $198,920) | AbstractArt |
| | 绝命游歌 | older | $6.99 | 159 82% | 4.8k | $33k (exactly $33,342) | DreamStep, Wild Kid Games |
| | SUPER 56 | older | $6.99 | 146 94% | 4.4k | $31k (exactly $30,616) | Onion Soup Interactive |
| | Progress Racer RPG | $5.99 | 133 94% | 4.0k | $24k (exactly $23,900) | Cameron Ladjevardi, David Elliot | |
| | Infectious | older | $3.99 | 77 67% | 2.3k | $9.2k (exactly $9,217) | Ziggy Makes Games |
 | BeachRun | older | $24.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $8.2k (exactly $8,247) | Gamesforgames |
 | ClickMonster | older | $4.99 | 42 66% | 1.3k | $6.3k (exactly $6,287) | Wertex Games |
 | Save The Octo | older | $4.99 | 19 78% | 570 | $2.8k (exactly $2,844) | RexTo Studios |
 | The Call Of Paper Plane | older | $3.99 | 23 86% | 690 | $2.8k (exactly $2,753) | Shanhai Game Studio |
 | Mr.Bottle and his dream | older | $2.99 | 26 76% | 780 | $2.3k (exactly $2,332) | BeyondTheWind |
 | BiColor - Vision Trainer | $9.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) | Binary Brain Games | |
 | Cube-Field+ | $2.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $987 (exactly $987) | Cool Birb Studio | |
 | Vanguard - Idle Auto Battler | $2.99 | 7 57% | 210 | $628 (exactly $628) | Beep2Bleep | |
 | Echoes of the Deep : Incremental Endless Miner | $6.80 | 2 100% | 60 | $408 (exactly $408) | Konstantinos "Spellmystery" V… (Konstantinos "Spellmystery" Voukelatos) | |
 | 福报镖局 | $3.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $359 (exactly $359) | Flappy Cow Studio | |
 | The Fallen Kingdom | $1.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $298 (exactly $298) | Lucas Baldi Aragão | |
 | Miner to Die | $0.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $59 (exactly $59) | Mercimek Games | |
 | Balloon Ride | $1.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Karthick K | |
 | The Watcher | $4.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Sai Game |
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.