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Should I ship an Online Co-Op Physics game?
Online Co-Op + Physics
Of 371 developers who shipped an Online Co-Op Physics 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.. 876 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.3k, ×2.9 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $1.8M, ×1236 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 876 games are announced against 273 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $898 (exactly $898) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.3k (exactly $4,341) |
| Top 25% | $47k (exactly $46,528) |
| Top 5% | $1.9M (exactly $1,851,759) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 371 |
| Released games | 698 |
| Announced | 876 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 35% on the market, supply 160% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Physics
- effort 5 / 10 · low · emergent simulation bugs need hands-on tuning
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Online Co-Op, Physics; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Co-op, Action, Adventure
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Funny
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 979,749 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 6 in 10 of the 131 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 876 games are announced against 273 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Online Co-Op with a different second tag, 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
Garry's Mod 2006 · $328M 
Teardown 2022 · $114M 
R.E.P.O. 2025 · EA · $102M 
Scrap Mechanic 2026 · $95M 
PEAK 2025 · $72M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Garry's Mod | older | $9.99 | 1,093,131 96% | 33M | $328M (exactly $327,611,361) | Facepunch Studios |
| | Teardown | older | $29.99 | 126,563 95% | 3.8M | $114M (exactly $113,868,731) | Tuxedo Labs |
| | R.E.P.O. | · EA | $9.99 | 341,004 96% | 10M | $102M (exactly $102,198,899) | semiwork |
| | Scrap Mechanic | $28.99 | 109,429 92% | 3.3M | $95M (exactly $95,170,401) | Axolot Games | |
| | PEAK | $7.99 | 301,964 94% | 9.1M | $72M (exactly $72,380,771) | Team PEAK | |
 | Farming Simulator 25 | $29.99 | 39,681 87% | 1.2M | $36M (exactly $35,700,996) | GIANTS Software | |
 | Party Animals | older | $19.99 | 56,043 81% | 1.7M | $34M (exactly $33,608,987) | Recreate Games |
 | Tabletop Simulator | older | $19.99 | 46,875 95% | 1.4M | $28M (exactly $28,110,937) | Berserk Games |
 | Trailmakers | older | $24.99 | 33,465 92% | 1.0M | $25M (exactly $25,088,710) | Flashbulb |
 | Wobbly Life | $24.99 | 33,034 97% | 991k | $25M (exactly $24,765,590) | RubberBandGames | |
 | RV There Yet? | $7.99 | 72,732 90% | 2.2M | $17M (exactly $17,433,860) | Nuggets Entertainment | |
 | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
 | How to Fish | $7.99 | 57,661 95% | 1.7M | $14M (exactly $13,821,342) | Dazed Games | |
 | SimRail - The Railway Simulator | $34.99 | 5,307 85% | 159k | $5.6M (exactly $5,570,758) | SimRail S.A. | |
 | Railroads Online | $29.99 | 5,410 75% | 162k | $4.9M (exactly $4,867,377) | Stefan Kelnberger |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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