Games › Local Co-Op › Local Co-Op + Tower Defense
Should I ship a Local Co-Op Tower Defense?
Local Co-Op + Tower Defense
Of 21 developers who shipped a Local Co-Op Tower Defense 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.. 44 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, ×3.0 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $72k, ×153 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 44 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $269 (exactly $269) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,439) |
| Top 25% | $7.8k (exactly $7,796) |
| Top 5% | $73k (exactly $72,860) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 21 |
| Released games | 93 |
| Announced | 44 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 10% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 12%, 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
- Tower Defense
- 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, Tower Defense; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Co-op, Strategy, Local Multiplayer
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Cartoon, Cartoony
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 67% positive over 7,187 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $270. 9 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 44 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 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
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville™ 2020 · $14M 
Plants vs. Zombies™: Replanted 2025 · $4.1M 
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed 2020 · $2.8M 
X-Morph: Defense 2017 · $2.0M 
Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder™ 2017 · $1.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville™ | older | $29.99 | 15,372 71% | 461k | $14M (exactly $13,830,188) | PopCap |
| | Plants vs. Zombies™: Replanted | $19.99 | 6,898 66% | 207k | $4.1M (exactly $4,136,731) | PopCap Games, The Lost Pixels | |
| | HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed | older | $24.99 | 3,798 90% | 114k | $2.8M (exactly $2,847,361) | Digital Cybercherries |
| | X-Morph: Defense | older | $19.99 | 3,272 90% | 98k | $2.0M (exactly $1,962,218) | EXOR Studios |
| | Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder™ | older | $14.99 | 2,792 90% | 84k | $1.3M (exactly $1,255,562) | ACE Team |
 | Kingdom Eighties | older | $11.99 | 3,001 75% | 90k | $1.1M (exactly $1,079,460) | Fury Studios |
 | DG2: Defense Grid 2 | older | $9.99 | 2,704 86% | 81k | $810k (exactly $810,389) | Hidden Path Entertainment |
 | Lumencraft | older | $19.99 | 1,086 75% | 33k | $651k (exactly $651,274) | 2Dynamic Games |
 | Toy Soldiers: Complete | older | $14.99 | 989 78% | 30k | $445k (exactly $444,753) | Signal Studios, Krome Studios |
 | CastleStorm | older | $9.99 | 1,262 89% | 38k | $378k (exactly $378,221) | Zen Studios |
 | Keep Keepers | $17.99 | 135 87% | 4.1k | $73k (exactly $72,860) | Thunderrock Innovations | |
 | Monarchy | $14.99 | 47 78% | 1.4k | $21k (exactly $21,136) | Brain Seal Ltd | |
 | Wild Ice | $19.99 | 17 100% | 510 | $10k (exactly $10,195) | Journey Bound Games | |
 | Exo Wanderers | · EA | $11.99 | 22 100% | 660 | $7.9k (exactly $7,913) | 什工坊SueStudio |
 | No Heroes Here 2 | $19.99 | 13 61% | 390 | $7.8k (exactly $7,796) | Mad Mimic | |
 | Crypt Crawler | $7.99 | 15 100% | 450 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Wild Domain | |
 | Dark Fantasy Tower Defense | $7.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $3.4k (exactly $3,356) | CinderVision | |
 | Sidewalk Simulator | · EA | $3.99 | 22 95% | 660 | $2.6k (exactly $2,633) | XCCWARE LLC |
 | Glorpotron | $12.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.6k (exactly $1,559) | Bitwise Botworks, Inc |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.