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Should I ship a Platformer Management game?
Management + Platformer
Of 23 developers who shipped a Platformer Management 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.. 33 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $17k, ×28 the market median. Revenue is up 350% on the market; 33 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) |
| Top 5% | $18k (exactly $17,536) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 62 |
| Announced | 33 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 350% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Management
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Platformer
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Management, Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, 2D Platformer, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 98% positive over 17,004 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. All of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 33 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Management with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RomeFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + WesternFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + RhythmFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + 3D FighterFair
- + IncrementalFair
Comparable games
Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition 2020 · $42M 
Shelldiver 2025 · $2.5M 
Train Valley 2 2019 · $1.1M 
Magical Delicacy 2024 · $180k 
No Heroes Here 2017 · $169k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition | older | $29.99 | 47,176 94% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,444,247) | Thunder Lotus |
| | Shelldiver | $4.99 | 16,806 98% | 504k | $2.5M (exactly $2,515,858) | Gagonfe | |
| | Train Valley 2 | older | $14.99 | 2,356 90% | 71k | $1.1M (exactly $1,059,493) | Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timof… (Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm) |
| | Magical Delicacy | older | $24.99 | 240 77% | 7.2k | $180k (exactly $179,928) | Skaule |
| | No Heroes Here | older | $14.99 | 375 88% | 11k | $169k (exactly $168,638) | Mad Mimic |
 | Glittermitten Grove | older | $9.99 | 395 82% | 12k | $118k (exactly $118,382) | Mostly Tigerproof |
 | Welcome to the Adventurer Inn! | older | $19.99 | 94 58% | 2.8k | $56k (exactly $56,372) | peperoncino |
 | Crossing Guard Joe | older | $5.99 | 196 93% | 5.9k | $35k (exactly $35,221) | September Games |
 | Candy Shop Simulator | $12.99 | 45 60% | 1.4k | $18k (exactly $17,536) | Games Incubator | |
 | Magic Potion Millionaire | older | $14.99 | 24 91% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | ARTIFACTS |
 | AI Faith: Compute [>_AIFC] | $4.99 | 55 81% | 1.7k | $8.2k (exactly $8,234) | Beneloop.ai | |
 | 버튜버 파라노이아 - Vtuber Paranoia | $14.99 | 18 94% | 540 | $8.1k (exactly $8,095) | 유진게임즈 | |
 | Coney's | $5.99 | 16 93% | 480 | $2.9k (exactly $2,875) | Technical Gentleman Productions | |
 | Joe Adventure | $4.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | Napless Interactive | |
 | Trump Tariff | $1.99 | 21 71% | 630 | $1.3k (exactly $1,254) | Valkeala Software, Tero Lunkka | |
 | Block Bounce | $1.99 | 20 95% | 600 | $1.2k (exactly $1,194) | Pinfall Games | |
 | Dwarf Core | $4.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | IncludeSpark | |
 | Extinction Rifts | $9.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $599 (exactly $599) | QUByte Interactive |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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