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Should I ship a Level Editor Physics game?
Level Editor + Physics
Of 104 developers who shipped a Level Editor Physics 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.. 198 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $220k, ×359 the market median. Revenue is down 15% on the market; 198 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $899 (exactly $899) |
| Top 25% | $8.8k (exactly $8,832) |
| Top 5% | $225k (exactly $225,487) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 104 |
| Released games | 373 |
| Announced | 198 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 down 15% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Level Editor
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Physics
- effort 5 / 10 · low · emergent simulation bugs need hands-on tuning
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Level Editor, Physics; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Action, Sandbox
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Third Person, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 42,786 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 7 in 10 of the 46 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 198 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Level Editor with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Multiple EndingsFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + AutomationLong shot
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
Comparable games
Portal 2 2011 · $117M 
Timberborn 2026 · $40M 
Besiege 2020 · $22M 
VTOL VR 2017 · $18M 
Forts 2017 · $9.5M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Portal 2 | older | $9.99 | 390,412 98% | 12M | $117M (exactly $117,006,476) | Valve |
| | Timberborn | $34.99 | 38,529 95% | 1.2M | $40M (exactly $40,443,891) | Mechanistry | |
| | Besiege | older | $14.99 | 48,045 95% | 1.4M | $22M (exactly $21,605,836) | Spiderling Studios |
| | VTOL VR | older | $29.99 | 19,885 98% | 597k | $18M (exactly $17,890,534) | Boundless Dynamics, LLC |
| | Forts | older | $14.99 | 21,216 92% | 636k | $9.5M (exactly $9,540,835) | EarthWork Games |
 | Clustertruck | older | $14.99 | 14,706 93% | 441k | $6.6M (exactly $6,613,288) | Landfall |
 | GoreBox | older | $8.99 | 23,130 84% | 694k | $6.2M (exactly $6,238,161) | F2Games |
 | Nuclear Option | · EA older | $19.99 | 10,275 95% | 308k | $6.2M (exactly $6,161,917) | Shockfront Studios |
 | Poly Bridge | older | $9.99 | 17,107 91% | 513k | $5.1M (exactly $5,126,968) | Dry Cactus |
 | Poly Bridge 2 | older | $14.99 | 7,875 95% | 236k | $3.5M (exactly $3,541,388) | Dry Cactus |
 | Creeper World IXE | $19.99 | 855 69% | 26k | $513k (exactly $512,743) | Knuckle Cracker | |
 | Turbo Dismount® 2 | $19.99 | 753 95% | 23k | $452k (exactly $451,574) | Secret Exit Ltd. | |
 | Dungeon Warfare 3 | $18.99 | 679 78% | 20k | $387k (exactly $386,826) | Excidium Inc., Valsar | |
 | Annihilate The Spance | · EA | $29.99 | 347 90% | 10k | $312k (exactly $312,196) | Skyglow Softworks |
 | Torque Drift 2 | · EA | $19.99 | 376 62% | 11k | $225k (exactly $225,487) | Grease Monkey Games |
 | JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator | $17.99 | 378 76% | 11k | $204k (exactly $204,007) | Prof. Scherer | |
 | ReCharge RC: High Voltage | · EA | $13.99 | 393 95% | 12k | $165k (exactly $164,942) | Hondune Games |
 | Ultimate Sheep Raccoon | $19.99 | 205 45% | 6.2k | $123k (exactly $122,938) | Clever Endeavour Games | |
 | Apex Rush | · EA | $14.99 | 271 84% | 8.1k | $122k (exactly $121,869) | Thunderboom Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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