Games › Puzzle › Puzzle + Spelling
Should I ship a Spelling Puzzle game?
Puzzle + Spelling
Of 81 developers who shipped a Spelling Puzzle 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.. 65 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $330 over 4, against a market of $120 for a 2 / 10 build. 54 developers shipped in the last year and 65 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $89 (exactly $89) |
|---|---|
| Median | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 25% | $2.9k (exactly $2,876) |
| Top 5% | $41k (exactly $41,006) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 81 |
| Released games | 217 |
| Announced | 65 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 95% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Puzzle, Spelling; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Word Game, RPG
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 3,003 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $89. Nearly all of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 65 games are announced against 54 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Puzzle with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Medical SimFair
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + VampiresFair
- + CatsFair
- + DemonsFair
- + God GameFair
- + RomanceFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + LemmingsFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Draw & Guess | older | $4.99 | 31,627 83% | 949k | $4.7M (exactly $4,734,562) | Acureus |
| | Wordle | older | $30.62 | 1,147 80% | 34k | $1.1M (exactly $1,053,634) | PreoNus Games |
| | Pronoun Palace | $19.84 | 1,249 99% | 37k | $743k (exactly $743,405) | Cadence Petersen, Hazel Fackler | |
| | Wordle 3 | older | $30.62 | 610 78% | 18k | $560k (exactly $560,346) | PreoNus Games |
| | Wordle 2 | older | $30.62 | 394 61% | 12k | $362k (exactly $361,928) | PreoNus Games |
| | Paper Bride 5 Two Lifetimes | older | $9.99 | 606 84% | 18k | $182k (exactly $181,618) | HeartBeat Plus |
| | Paper Bride 6 Nightmare | $9.99 | 369 81% | 11k | $111k (exactly $110,589) | HeartBeat Plus | |
| | 你已经猜到结局了吗 | older | $7.99 | 388 92% | 12k | $93k (exactly $93,004) | 橘音 |
| | You Can Kana - Learn Japanese Hiragana & Katakana | older | $9.99 | 281 98% | 8.4k | $84k (exactly $84,216) | James Moulang |
| | Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered | older | $7.99 | 340 93% | 10k | $81k (exactly $81,498) | Bacon Bandit Games |
| | Party Quiz | $11.99 | 147 80% | 4.4k | $53k (exactly $52,876) | White Ink | |
| | Beyond Words | $14.99 | 102 84% | 3.1k | $46k (exactly $45,869) | MindFuel Games | |
| | Word Game World | $11.99 | 114 62% | 3.4k | $41k (exactly $41,006) | Team9 | |
| | 这是谐音梗 | $2.40 | 567 94% | 17k | $41k (exactly $40,824) | Find the Lamp Games | |
| | Keine's Expanding Class! | $5.99 | 143 99% | 4.3k | $26k (exactly $25,697) | HornyMelon | |
| | The Angel's Devil Tail - One More Question 2 | $9.99 | 70 91% | 2.1k | $21k (exactly $20,979) | 橘音 | |
| | Spiritual Bond ~Breaking the curse, Intertwining fates~ | $5.99 | 98 82% | 2.9k | $18k (exactly $17,611) | MONRA | |
| | Word Puzzle Master | $2.49 | 144 82% | 4.3k | $11k (exactly $10,757) | Tilewise |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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