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Should I ship an Online Co-Op Strategy game?
Online Co-Op + Strategy
Of 375 developers who shipped an Online Co-Op Strategy 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.. 882 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×1.2 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $1.2M, ×837 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 882 games are announced against 244 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
| Top 25% | $21k (exactly $20,693) |
| Top 5% | $1.3M (exactly $1,254,572) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 375 |
| Released games | 1,225 |
| Announced | 882 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 35% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 28%, 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
- Strategy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Online Co-Op, Strategy; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Co-op, Action, Simulation
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 138,714 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 7 in 10 of the 206 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 882 games are announced against 244 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 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
Baldur's Gate 3 2023 · $1.4B 
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016 · $497M 
Dead by Daylight 2016 · $411M 
7 Days to Die 2024 · $369M 
Squad 2020 · $217M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Baldur's Gate 3 | older | $59.99 | 755,010 96% | 23M | $1.4B (exactly $1,358,791,497) | Larian Studios |
| | Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI | older | $59.99 | 276,113 86% | 8.3M | $497M (exactly $496,920,566) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | Dead by Daylight | older | $19.99 | 685,423 78% | 21M | $411M (exactly $411,048,173) | Behaviour Interactive Inc. |
| | 7 Days to Die | older | $44.99 | 273,589 87% | 8.2M | $369M (exactly $369,263,073) | The Fun Pimps |
| | Squad | older | $39.99 | 180,505 82% | 5.4M | $217M (exactly $216,551,848) | Offworld |
 | Arma 3 | older | $29.99 | 228,910 90% | 6.9M | $206M (exactly $205,950,327) | Bohemia Interactive |
 | Raft | older | $19.99 | 323,481 93% | 9.7M | $194M (exactly $193,991,556) | Redbeet Interactive |
 | Total War: WARHAMMER III | older | $59.99 | 104,822 71% | 3.1M | $189M (exactly $188,648,153) | CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive |
 | Don't Starve Together | older | $14.99 | 376,165 94% | 11M | $169M (exactly $169,161,400) | Klei Entertainment |
 | Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Wildlands | older | $49.99 | 99,590 78% | 3.0M | $149M (exactly $149,355,123) | Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft… (Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Milan, Reflections, Ubisoft Belgrade) |
 | Anno 117: Pax Romana | $59.99 | 12,150 69% | 365k | $22M (exactly $21,866,355) | Ubisoft Mainz | |
 | GROUND BRANCH | $29.99 | 22,391 83% | 672k | $20M (exactly $20,145,183) | BlackFoot Studios, MicroProse Software | |
 | Planet Coaster 2 | $49.99 | 13,047 74% | 391k | $20M (exactly $19,566,586) | Frontier Developments | |
 | Halloween: The Game | $39.99 | 11,868 68% | 356k | $14M (exactly $14,238,040) | IllFonic | |
 | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition | $29.99 | 12,286 85% | 369k | $11M (exactly $11,053,714) | Relic Entertainment | |
 | Liar's Bar | · EA | $6.99 | 48,708 89% | 1.5M | $10M (exactly $10,214,068) | Curve Animation |
 | Diablo II: Resurrected – Infernal Edition | $39.99 | 5,855 86% | 176k | $7.0M (exactly $7,024,244) | Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. | |
 | EA SPORTS™ College Football 27 | $69.99 | 2,583 40% | 77k | $5.4M (exactly $5,423,525) | Tiburon | |
 | Pioneers of Pagonia | $34.99 | 4,794 81% | 144k | $5.0M (exactly $5,032,262) | Envision Entertainment | |
 | Wildgate | $29.99 | 5,032 77% | 151k | $4.5M (exactly $4,527,290) | Moonshot Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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