Games › Online Co-Op › Online Co-Op + Lovecraftian
Should I ship a Lovecraftian Online Co-Op game?
Online Co-Op + Lovecraftian
Only 16 developers shipped a Lovecraftian Online Co-Op game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 48 more are announced, ×5.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $29k, ×19 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $4.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.7M, ×1866 the market median. Revenue is up 55% on the market; 48 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $4.5k (exactly $4,496) |
|---|---|
| Median | $29k (exactly $28,932) |
| Top 25% | $71k (exactly $71,029) |
| Top 5% | $2.8M (exactly $2,795,368) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 39 |
| Announced | 48 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 55% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Online Co-Op
- effort 8 / 10 · low · netcode, lobbies and state sync across machines
- Lovecraftian
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Online Co-Op
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 6,606 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $4.5k. 6 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Online Co-Op with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Bullet HeavenStrong odds
- + Escape RoomFair
- + TypingFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Remnant: From the Ashes | older | $39.99 | 47,193 84% | 1.4M | $57M (exactly $56,617,442) | Gunfire Games |
| | Returnal™ | older | $59.99 | 6,602 79% | 198k | $12M (exactly $11,881,619) | Housemarque, Climax Studios |
| | Demonologist | older | $19.99 | 18,886 85% | 567k | $11M (exactly $11,325,934) | Clock Wizard Games |
| | Labyrinthine | older | $9.99 | 13,779 84% | 413k | $4.1M (exactly $4,129,566) | Valko Game Studios |
| | The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu | $29.99 | 3,107 69% | 93k | $2.8M (exactly $2,795,368) | ACE Team | |
| | We Need To Go Deeper | older | $15.99 | 4,652 86% | 140k | $2.2M (exactly $2,231,564) | Deli Interactive LLC |
| | Fade to Silence | older | $29.99 | 1,032 62% | 31k | $928k (exactly $928,490) | Black Forest Games |
| | Whisper Mountain Outbreak | · EA | $7.99 | 2,421 84% | 73k | $580k (exactly $580,314) | Toge Productions |
| | Perennial Order | older | $19.99 | 687 93% | 21k | $412k (exactly $411,994) | Gardenfiend Games |
| | Sign of Silence | older | $4.99 | 1,787 52% | 54k | $268k (exactly $267,514) | Renderise |
| | RailGods of Hysterra | · EA | $19.99 | 290 51% | 8.7k | $174k (exactly $173,913) | Troglobytes Games |
| | We Gotta Go | $9.99 | 237 60% | 7.1k | $71k (exactly $71,029) | FuzzyBot | |
| | Exorcist Simulator | $9.99 | 116 66% | 3.5k | $35k (exactly $34,765) | D.M.G.V | |
| | SHRIMP GAME: OVERKRILL | $11.99 | 93 89% | 2.8k | $33k (exactly $33,452) | GasGod Games, GLUE MAN | |
| | SAVE | · EA | $11.99 | 91 48% | 2.7k | $33k (exactly $32,733) | Influsion Inc. |
| | Pizza Deathlivery | $5.99 | 161 72% | 4.8k | $29k (exactly $28,932) | Kusa Games | |
| | Nullpoint Protocol | $14.99 | 62 61% | 1.9k | $28k (exactly $27,881) | Everbloom Games | |
| | Ritual Party | · EA | $11.99 | 28 89% | 840 | $10k (exactly $10,072) | Hologram Monster |
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.