Games › Local Co-Op › Local Co-Op + Sci-fi
Should I ship a Sci-fi Local Co-Op game?
Local Co-Op + Sci-fi
Of 106 developers who shipped a Sci-fi Local Co-Op 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.. 162 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.6k, ×3.3 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $580k, ×1240 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 162 games are announced against 64 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.6k (exactly $1,559) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $16,189) |
| Top 5% | $589k (exactly $588,905) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 106 |
| Released games | 467 |
| Announced | 162 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.00 |
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 60% 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
- Sci-fi
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Local Co-Op; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Co-op, Adventure
- Price point
- $8.00 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.00.
The top 10 games average 96% positive over 115,909 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 48 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 162 games are announced against 64 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Local Co-Op with a different setting or mood, 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
Split Fiction 2025 · $118M 
LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga 2022 · $57M 
Serious Sam 3: BFE 2011 · $20M 
Gears 5 2019 · $19M 
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5 2019 · $17M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Split Fiction | $49.99 | 78,378 97% | 2.4M | $118M (exactly $117,543,487) | Hazelight Studios | |
| | LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga | older | $49.99 | 38,294 90% | 1.1M | $57M (exactly $57,429,512) | TT Games |
| | Serious Sam 3: BFE | older | $29.99 | 21,834 87% | 655k | $20M (exactly $19,644,050) | Croteam |
| | Gears 5 | older | $29.99 | 21,210 72% | 636k | $19M (exactly $19,082,637) | The Coalition |
| | EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5 | older | $59.99 | 9,375 93% | 281k | $17M (exactly $16,872,188) | SANDLOT |
 | Brotato | older | $4.99 | 111,407 95% | 3.3M | $17M (exactly $16,677,628) | Blobfish |
 | HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition | older | $19.99 | 25,663 90% | 770k | $15M (exactly $15,390,101) | Arrowhead Game Studios |
 | Rhythm Doctor | $19.99 | 25,021 98% | 751k | $15M (exactly $15,005,094) | 7th Beat Games | |
 | LEGO® Star Wars™ - The Complete Saga | older | $19.99 | 20,768 96% | 623k | $12M (exactly $12,454,570) | Traveller's Tales |
 | EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 6 | older | $59.99 | 6,225 69% | 187k | $11M (exactly $11,203,132) | SANDLOT |
 | POPUCOM | $19.99 | 3,432 87% | 103k | $2.1M (exactly $2,058,170) | Hypergryph | |
 | Greedland | $12.99 | 2,919 83% | 88k | $1.1M (exactly $1,137,534) | VaMP He | |
 | VHOLUME | $8.00 | 2,992 97% | 90k | $718k (exactly $718,080) | Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels… (Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels Tiercelin) | |
 | Iron Meat | $19.99 | 982 96% | 29k | $589k (exactly $588,905) | Ivan Valeryevich Suvorov, Retroware | |
 | Schrodinger's Cat Burglar | $19.99 | 613 97% | 18k | $368k (exactly $367,616) | Abandoned Sheep | |
 | Together: Moon Escape | $9.99 | 868 90% | 26k | $260k (exactly $260,140) | CarlosGameDev | |
 | Neon Inferno | $19.99 | 378 92% | 11k | $227k (exactly $226,687) | Zenovia Interactive | |
 | Kingdom of Night | $19.99 | 326 86% | 9.8k | $196k (exactly $195,502) | Friends of Safety |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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