Games › Sports › Sports + Nature
Should I ship a Nature Sports game?
Sports + Nature
Of 62 developers who shipped a Nature Sports 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.. 88 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $710k, ×1143 the market median. Revenue is up 55% on the market; 88 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $269 (exactly $269) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
| Top 25% | $40k (exactly $39,734) |
| Top 5% | $718k (exactly $717,841) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 62 |
| Released games | 207 |
| Announced | 88 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 15% more developers than 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.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sports; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Physics, Immersive Sim
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, Realistic, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 15,592 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $270. 7 in 10 of the 41 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 88 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Sports with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dynamic NarrationStrong odds
- + CraftingFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
- + SandboxFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + FMVFair
- + BikesFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Choices MatterFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | theHunter: Call of the Wild™ | older | $19.99 | 170,472 89% | 5.1M | $102M (exactly $102,232,058) | Expansive Worlds |
| | Way of the Hunter | older | $29.99 | 8,528 81% | 256k | $7.7M (exactly $7,672,642) | Nine Rocks Games |
| | Call of the Wild: The Angler™ | older | $29.99 | 6,122 63% | 184k | $5.5M (exactly $5,507,963) | Expansive Worlds |
| | Ultimate Fishing Simulator® | older | $19.99 | 8,256 89% | 248k | $5.0M (exactly $4,951,123) | Ultimate Games S.A., Bit Golem |
| | Rival Stars Horse Racing: Desktop Edition | older | $29.99 | 5,032 91% | 151k | $4.5M (exactly $4,527,290) | PikPok |
| | Cast n Chill | $14.99 | 8,383 94% | 251k | $3.8M (exactly $3,769,835) | Wombat Brawler | |
| | Shredders | older | $29.99 | 3,818 94% | 115k | $3.4M (exactly $3,435,055) | FoamPunch |
| | Jusant | older | $24.99 | 4,123 93% | 124k | $3.1M (exactly $3,091,013) | DON'T NOD |
| | Walkabout Mini Golf VR | older | $24.99 | 3,094 97% | 93k | $2.3M (exactly $2,319,572) | Mighty Coconut |
| | Lonely Mountains: Downhill | older | $19.99 | 2,741 89% | 82k | $1.6M (exactly $1,643,778) | Megagon Industries |
| | Ultimate Fishing® Simulator 2 | $19.99 | 2,077 66% | 62k | $1.2M (exactly $1,245,577) | Silent Bear Studio, SHINING GAMES | |
| | RIDE 6 | $59.99 | 549 68% | 16k | $988k (exactly $988,035) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | Driftwood | $19.99 | 1,197 92% | 36k | $718k (exactly $717,841) | Stoked Sloth Interactive | |
| | Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders | $24.99 | 749 91% | 22k | $562k (exactly $561,525) | Megagon Industries | |
| | SNØ: Ultimate Freeriding | $11.99 | 920 96% | 28k | $331k (exactly $330,924) | Studio Gauntlet | |
| | Disc Golf Masters | · EA | $24.99 | 427 83% | 13k | $320k (exactly $320,122) | Spinoff Games |
| | BULT: Hunting simulator | · EA | $9.99 | 869 87% | 26k | $260k (exactly $260,439) | Nordrise |
| | New Heights: Realistic Climbing and Bouldering | $21.99 | 248 89% | 7.4k | $164k (exactly $163,606) | Wikkl Works | |
| | Virtual Hunter | $24.99 | 173 71% | 5.2k | $130k (exactly $129,698) | Korpi Games Oy |
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.