Do I ship it?

Games › Strategy › Strategy + Platformer

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Platformer Strategy game?

Strategy + Platformer

Of 272 developers who shipped a Platformer 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.. 288 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $240 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 142 developers shipped in the last year and 288 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue up 40% on the market, 288 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Strategy + Platformer
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 272
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $449 → $390 → $358 → $179 → $478 → $239 → $210 (still earning) → $120 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Strategy + Platformer: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 272
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $239 (exactly $239)
Top 25% $1.3k (exactly $1,317)
Top 5% $11k (exactly $11,210)
Developers, 2 yr 272
Released games 997
Announced 288
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 40% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Strategy
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Platformer
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Strategy, Platformer; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Puzzle
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $10.00 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $10.00 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 95% positive over 26,738 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $240, 1 in 4 over $1.3k, 1 in 20 over $11k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. Nearly all of the 177 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 288 games are announced against 142 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Strategy with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVStrong odds50 devs · median $65k · 27 announced
  2. + Job SimulatorFair62 devs · median $16k · 74 announced
  3. + BaseballFair14 devs · median $7.5k · 7 announced
  4. + LGBTQ+Fair89 devs · median $6.7k · 91 announced
  5. + WuxiaFair23 devs · median $4.7k · 41 announced
  6. + FarmingFair44 devs · median $4.3k · 42 announced
  7. + Martial ArtsFair81 devs · median $3.0k · 94 announced
  8. + SubmarineFair21 devs · median $2.4k · 23 announced
  9. + NavalFair66 devs · median $2.2k · 88 announced
  10. + IdlerFair696 devs · median $1.9k · 988 announced
  11. + Shop KeeperFair159 devs · median $1.8k · 264 announced
  12. + HackingFair96 devs · median $1.2k · 132 announced

All 275 pairs on the Strategy page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Geometry Dash 2014 · $89M Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy 2017 · $18M Worms W.M.D 2016 · $9.4M Awesomenauts 2012 · $7.1M Clustertruck 2016 · $6.6M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Geometry Dash older $4.99 595,606 93% 18M $89M (exactly $89,162,218) RobTop Games
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy older $7.99 75,118 82% 2.3M $18M (exactly $18,005,785) Bennett Foddy
Worms W.M.D older $29.99 10,435 85% 313k $9.4M (exactly $9,388,370) Team17
Awesomenauts older $19.99 11,822 84% 355k $7.1M (exactly $7,089,653) Ronimo Games
Clustertruck older $14.99 14,706 93% 441k $6.6M (exactly $6,613,288) Landfall
Monster Sanctuary older $19.99 10,416 91% 312k $6.2M (exactly $6,246,475) moi rai games
UFO 50 $24.99 7,134 94% 214k $5.3M (exactly $5,348,360) Mossmouth
Scribblenauts Unlimited older $19.99 8,003 94% 240k $4.8M (exactly $4,799,399) 5th Cell Media
Worms Armageddon older $14.99 7,851 94% 236k $3.5M (exactly $3,530,595) Team17 Digital Ltd
Eastern Exorcist older $17.99 6,099 84% 183k $3.3M (exactly $3,291,630) Wildfire Game（无锡野火数字科技有限公司）
Shelldiver $4.99 16,806 98% 504k $2.5M (exactly $2,515,858) Gagonfe
3dSen PC $14.99 524 91% 16k $236k (exactly $235,643) Geod Studio
Zad Archery $6.99 803 73% 24k $168k (exactly $168,389) Samharia Studios
Portal Fantasy $14.99 210 62% 6.3k $94k (exactly $94,437) Portal Fantasy
Piece by Piece $12.99 233 100% 7.0k $91k (exactly $90,800) Neon Polygons
SNAKE GAME ULTRA CORE $29.99 89 88% 2.7k $80k (exactly $80,073) Galactic Geckon
ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard $19.99 117 91% 3.5k $70k (exactly $70,165) Pixel Maniacs
IGNOBLE $6.99 331 82% 9.9k $69k (exactly $69,411) Retromagine
Pushing it! Together - Sisyphus Co-op $3.99 491 48% 15k $59k (exactly $58,773) Bashir "ManliestDev" Kashalo,… (Bashir "ManliestDev" Kashalo, Blind Archer)

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.