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Should I ship a Local Co-Op Puzzle Platformer?
Local Co-Op + Puzzle Platformer
Of 82 developers who shipped a Local Co-Op Puzzle Platformer 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.. 105 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×5.7 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $360k, ×770 the market median. Revenue is up 25% on the market; 105 games are announced against 47 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $597 (exactly $597) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,698) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,592) |
| Top 5% | $366k (exactly $365,606) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 82 |
| Released games | 296 |
| Announced | 105 |
| 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 up 25% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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 Platformer
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Local Co-Op, Puzzle Platformer; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Co-op, Physics
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Funny, Cute, Family Friendly
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 86,259 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 43 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 105 games are announced against 47 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 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
| 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 |
| | Split Fiction | $49.99 | 78,378 97% | 2.4M | $118M (exactly $117,543,487) | Hazelight Studios | |
| | Human Fall Flat | older | $19.99 | 174,835 94% | 5.2M | $105M (exactly $104,848,549) | No Brakes Games |
| | BattleBlock Theater® | older | $14.99 | 55,793 97% | 1.7M | $25M (exactly $25,090,112) | The Behemoth |
| | Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince | older | $29.99 | 11,712 88% | 351k | $11M (exactly $10,537,286) | Frozenbyte |
| | Trine 2: Complete Story | older | $19.99 | 15,273 95% | 458k | $9.2M (exactly $9,159,218) | Frozenbyte |
| | Trine Enchanted Edition | older | $14.99 | 12,843 95% | 385k | $5.8M (exactly $5,775,497) | Frozenbyte |
| | Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power | older | $21.99 | 7,301 63% | 219k | $4.8M (exactly $4,816,470) | Frozenbyte |
| | Super Bunny Man | older | $14.99 | 10,143 85% | 304k | $4.6M (exactly $4,561,307) | Catobyte |
| | Unravel Two | older | $19.99 | 7,480 78% | 224k | $4.5M (exactly $4,485,756) | Coldwood Interactive |
| | LEGO® Voyagers | $24.99 | 1,859 88% | 56k | $1.4M (exactly $1,393,692) | Light Brick Studio | |
| | 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 | |
| | Log Riders | $4.99 | 660 70% | 20k | $99k (exactly $98,802) | Bluespy Studios | |
| | Chained Wheels | $4.99 | 619 69% | 19k | $93k (exactly $92,664) | Karga Games | |
| | Brave Escape | $19.99 | 145 97% | 4.4k | $87k (exactly $86,956) | Hit Start Studios | |
| | All Hands on Deck | $12.99 | 90 71% | 2.7k | $35k (exactly $35,073) | Studio Mantasaur, Wikkl |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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