Games › Parkour › Parkour + Simulation
Should I ship a Simulation Parkour game?
Parkour + Simulation
Of 105 developers who shipped a Simulation Parkour 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.. 99 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $890, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $300k, ×479 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 99 games are announced against 47 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $240 (exactly $240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $891 (exactly $891) |
| Top 25% | $5.4k (exactly $5,395) |
| Top 5% | $301k (exactly $300,674) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 105 |
| Released games | 273 |
| Announced | 99 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 45% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Parkour
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Parkour, Simulation; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Physics, 3D Platformer, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Funny, Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 34,416 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 66 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 99 games are announced against 47 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Parkour with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + MetroidvaniaPoor odds
- + SkateboardingPoor odds
- + SwordplayPoor odds
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + Dark FantasyPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + CatsPoor odds
- + DestructionPoor odds
- + StealthPoor odds
Comparable games
Call of Duty®: Black Ops III 2015 · $284M 
Human Fall Flat 2016 · $105M 
Assassin's Creed® Unity 2014 · $71M 
BONEWORKS 2019 · $31M 
Cairn 2026 · $16M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Call of Duty®: Black Ops III | older | $59.99 | 157,694 88% | 4.7M | $284M (exactly $283,801,892) | Treyarch, Aspyr (Mac) |
| | Human Fall Flat | older | $19.99 | 174,835 94% | 5.2M | $105M (exactly $104,848,549) | No Brakes Games |
| | Assassin's Creed® Unity | older | $29.99 | 79,116 77% | 2.4M | $71M (exactly $71,180,665) | Ubisoft |
| | BONEWORKS | older | $29.99 | 34,141 92% | 1.0M | $31M (exactly $30,716,658) | Stress Level Zero |
| | Cairn | $29.99 | 18,224 94% | 547k | $16M (exactly $16,396,133) | The Game Bakers | |
 | Session: Skate Sim | older | $39.99 | 13,460 83% | 404k | $16M (exactly $16,147,962) | crea-ture Studios Inc. |
 | Assassin’s Creed® Rogue | older | $19.99 | 21,310 86% | 639k | $13M (exactly $12,779,607) | Ubisoft Sofia, Ubisoft Kiev |
 | Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing | older | $19.99 | 13,633 95% | 409k | $8.2M (exactly $8,175,710) | LuGus Studios |
 | Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game | $24.99 | 6,638 94% | 199k | $5.0M (exactly $4,976,509) | MLMEDIA | |
 | Mr.President! | older | $9.99 | 4,958 83% | 149k | $1.5M (exactly $1,485,913) | Game Developer X |
 | STORROR Parkour Pro | · EA | $24.99 | 1,605 71% | 48k | $1.2M (exactly $1,203,268) | Hole in the Sleeve Game Studios |
 | Carry The Glass | $4.99 | 2,839 75% | 85k | $425k (exactly $424,998) | Çağatay Demir, Enes Kaplan | |
 | SNØ: Ultimate Freeriding | $11.99 | 920 96% | 28k | $331k (exactly $330,924) | Studio Gauntlet | |
 | Idols of Ash | $2.99 | 3,352 97% | 101k | $301k (exactly $300,674) | Leafy Games | |
 | New Heights: Realistic Climbing and Bouldering | $21.99 | 248 89% | 7.4k | $164k (exactly $163,606) | Wikkl Works | |
 | Graffism VR - Graffiti Simulator | · EA | $24.99 | 98 86% | 2.9k | $73k (exactly $73,471) | VRiteLabs |
 | Boat Together | $4.99 | 364 76% | 11k | $54k (exactly $54,491) | Beaked Games | |
 | Human Fall Flat VR | $12.99 | 128 47% | 3.8k | $50k (exactly $49,882) | No Brakes Games |
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.