Games › Local Co-Op › Local Co-Op + Puzzle
Should I ship a Local Co-Op Puzzle game?
Local Co-Op + Puzzle
Of 147 developers who shipped a Local Co-Op Puzzle 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.. 182 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $360k, ×770 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 182 games are announced against 89 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,349) |
| Top 25% | $9.4k (exactly $9,444) |
| Top 5% | $366k (exactly $365,606) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 147 |
| Released games | 540 |
| Announced | 182 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Local Co-Op
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Puzzle
- effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Local Co-Op, Puzzle; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Co-op, Local Multiplayer
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Family Friendly, Cute, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 26,741 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 65 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 182 games are announced against 89 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Local Co-Op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + LootStrong odds
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + TriviaFair
- + Action RPGFair
- + ModernFair
- + Dark FantasyFair
- + Board GameFair
- + Dungeon CrawlerFair
- + MedievalFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Point & ClickFair
Comparable games
It Takes Two 2021 · $262M 
Human Fall Flat 2016 · $105M 
LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga 2022 · $57M 
BattleBlock Theater® 2014 · $25M 
REANIMAL 2026 · $17M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | It Takes Two | older | $39.99 | 218,492 95% | 6.6M | $262M (exactly $262,124,852) | Hazelight Studios |
| | Human Fall Flat | older | $19.99 | 174,835 94% | 5.2M | $105M (exactly $104,848,549) | No Brakes Games |
| | LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga | older | $49.99 | 38,294 90% | 1.1M | $57M (exactly $57,429,512) | TT Games |
| | BattleBlock Theater® | older | $14.99 | 55,793 97% | 1.7M | $25M (exactly $25,090,112) | The Behemoth |
| | REANIMAL | $39.99 | 13,809 78% | 414k | $17M (exactly $16,566,657) | Tarsier Studios | |
 | The Escapists 2 | older | $19.99 | 26,452 90% | 794k | $16M (exactly $15,863,264) | Team17, Mouldy Toof Studios |
 | Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons | older | $14.99 | 33,765 94% | 1.0M | $15M (exactly $15,184,120) | Starbreeze Studios AB |
 | Untitled Goose Game | older | $19.99 | 22,797 95% | 684k | $14M (exactly $13,671,361) | House House |
 | LEGO® Marvel™ Super Heroes | older | $19.99 | 22,663 95% | 680k | $14M (exactly $13,591,001) | Traveller's Tales |
 | LEGO® Star Wars™ - The Complete Saga | older | $19.99 | 20,768 96% | 623k | $12M (exactly $12,454,570) | Traveller's Tales |
 | POPUCOM | $19.99 | 3,432 87% | 103k | $2.1M (exactly $2,058,170) | Hypergryph | |
 | LEGO® Harry Potter™ Collection | $39.99 | 1,464 82% | 44k | $1.8M (exactly $1,756,361) | TT Games, Double Eleven | |
 | LEGO® Voyagers | $24.99 | 1,859 88% | 56k | $1.4M (exactly $1,393,692) | Light Brick Studio | |
 | World of Goo 2 | $29.99 | 801 87% | 24k | $721k (exactly $720,660) | 2D BOY, Tomorrow Corporation | |
 | Scarlet Idol | $7.99 | 2,586 66% | 78k | $620k (exactly $619,864) | 山雨工作室 | |
 | Schrodinger's Cat Burglar | $19.99 | 613 97% | 18k | $368k (exactly $367,616) | Abandoned Sheep | |
 | Biped 2 | $14.99 | 813 71% | 24k | $366k (exactly $365,606) | META Publishing, NEXT Studios, PlayJoy… (META Publishing, NEXT Studios, PlayJoy Studios) | |
 | WheelMates | $19.99 | 496 75% | 15k | $297k (exactly $297,451) | Firevolt | |
 | Together: Moon Escape | $9.99 | 868 90% | 26k | $260k (exactly $260,140) | CarlosGameDev |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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