Do I ship it?

GamesIncrementalIncremental + Spelling

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Spelling Incremental game?

Incremental + Spelling

Only 10 developers shipped a Spelling Incremental game 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, Paper Bride 6 Nightmare, 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, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 1 / 10 build.

Only 4 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $300 against a market of $120. 9 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 2.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 220% on the market, 9 announced, ×2.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Incremental + Spelling
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 10
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $60 → $776 → $1.7k → $60 → $535 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Incremental + Spelling: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 10
Bottom 30% $120 (exactly $120)
Median $300 (exactly $300)
Top 25% $538 (exactly $538)
Top 5% $111k (exactly $110,589)
Developers, 2 yr 10
Released games 28
Announced 9
Effort 1 / 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 up 220% on the market, supply 35% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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.

Incremental
effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
Spelling
effort 1 / 10 · high · effort 1 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
1 / 10 · text and UI only
Systems
Incremental, Spelling
Price point
$2.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 9 games average 82% positive over 438 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $120, median $300, 1 in 4 over $530, 1 in 20 over $110k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 9 games are announced against 4 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Incremental with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVStrong odds15 devs · median $11k · 12 announced
  2. + OtomeStrong odds12 devs · median $7.0k · 11 announced
  3. + Martial ArtsFair13 devs · median $6.1k · 15 announced
  4. + FarmingFair21 devs · median $5.9k · 23 announced
  5. + Dynamic NarrationFair19 devs · median $4.0k · 14 announced
  6. + MiningFair141 devs · median $3.9k · 207 announced
  7. + Souls-likeFair9 devs · median $3.9k · 10 announced
  8. + Arena ShooterFair15 devs · median $3.5k · 20 announced
  9. + Dating SimFair140 devs · median $3.1k · 136 announced
  10. + UndergroundFair27 devs · median $3.0k · 35 announced
  11. + LootFair145 devs · median $2.9k · 236 announced
  12. + SupernaturalFair33 devs · median $2.4k · 35 announced

All 188 pairs on the Incremental page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Paper Bride 5 Two Lifetimes older $9.99 606 84% 18k $182k (exactly $181,618) HeartBeat Plus
Paper Bride 6 Nightmare $9.99 369 81% 11k $111k (exactly $110,589) HeartBeat Plus
Learn Japanese Kana & Vocab with Sushi $7.00 36 91% 1.1k $7.6k (exactly $7,560) The Farting Cat
Ragnar's Chinese Memory Game older $5.99 33 100% 990 $5.9k (exactly $5,930) Ragnar Brynjúlfsson
Tranquil Builds older $1.99 29 100% 870 $1.7k (exactly $1,731) Big Village Games Ltd
Milky Way Map older $0.99 41 85% 1.2k $1.2k (exactly $1,218) Wijat
Educational Suite older $1.99 13 92% 390 $776 (exactly $776) Dayra Studio
Phantom Typist older $2.89 7 85% 210 $607 (exactly $607) Wysiwyg Interactive
Word95 $2.99 6 83% 180 $538 (exactly $538) Rinanda Hidayat
Unstimulated Simulator $0.99 18 100% 540 $535 (exactly $535) Shotsy Enterprise
Word Rave · EA $9.99 1 100% 30 $300 (exactly $300) Gobico
Chromapix $1.99 5 60% 150 $298 (exactly $298) Catnip studio
VerbMeister $3.99 1 100% 30 $120 (exactly $120) Alpen Adria Forge
I AM A ROBOT $1.99 1 100% 30 $60 (exactly $60) Yo!Games
Nippon Dojo $1.99 1 0% 30 $60 (exactly $60) Game Over Productions Inc.
ENTER $0.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Erik Ebel

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