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Should I ship a Word Game Puzzle game?
Puzzle + Word Game
Of 209 developers who shipped a Word Game 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.. 211 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×6.0 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $150. Revenue is up 45% on the market; 211 games are announced against 142 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,588) |
| Top 5% | $111k (exactly $110,589) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 209 |
| Released games | 620 |
| Announced | 211 |
| 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 up 45% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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, Word Game; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, RPG
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Story Rich, Stylized
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 30,039 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 112 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 211 games are announced against 142 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
Chants of Sennaar 2023 · $18M 
Word Game 2022 · $6.2M 
Cyber Manhunt 2021 · $4.4M 
The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall 2026 · $3.0M 
Mandate Of Heaven 2025 · $2.4M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Chants of Sennaar | older | $19.99 | 30,416 98% | 912k | $18M (exactly $18,240,475) | Rundisc |
| | Word Game | older | $34.99 | 5,930 93% | 178k | $6.2M (exactly $6,224,721) | Team9 |
| | Cyber Manhunt | older | $9.99 | 14,520 92% | 436k | $4.4M (exactly $4,351,644) | Aluba Van+ |
| | The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall | $11.99 | 8,227 58% | 247k | $3.0M (exactly $2,959,252) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) | |
| | Mandate Of Heaven | $14.99 | 5,446 91% | 163k | $2.4M (exactly $2,449,066) | 木焱工作室 | |
 | The Séance of Blake Manor | $19.99 | 3,683 95% | 110k | $2.2M (exactly $2,208,695) | Spooky Doorway | |
 | WILL: A Wonderful World / WILL：美好世界 | older | $14.99 | 4,588 92% | 138k | $2.1M (exactly $2,063,224) | WMY Studio |
 | Cyber Manhunt 2: New World - The Hacking Simulator | $12.99 | 5,191 92% | 156k | $2.0M (exactly $2,022,933) | Aluba Van+ | |
 | 月华辉映之刻 | $11.99 | 4,227 89% | 127k | $1.5M (exactly $1,520,452) | 侠客狗工作室 | |
 | Our End of the World | older | $9.99 | 4,453 79% | 134k | $1.3M (exactly $1,334,564) | 橘子班, 大好网 |
 | Pronoun Palace | $19.84 | 1,249 99% | 37k | $743k (exactly $743,405) | Cadence Petersen, Hazel Fackler | |
 | Noun Town Language Learning | $19.99 | 708 84% | 21k | $425k (exactly $424,588) | SUPER HYPER MEGA | |
 | LOK Digital | $14.99 | 506 99% | 15k | $228k (exactly $227,548) | Letibus Design, Icedrop Games | |
 | CaseCracker3 | $12.99 | 359 84% | 11k | $140k (exactly $139,902) | BlackRobe | |
 | Lingo 2 | $9.99 | 443 93% | 13k | $133k (exactly $132,767) | Brenton Wildes |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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