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Should I ship a Puzzle Platformer Simulation game?
Simulation + Puzzle Platformer
Of 216 developers who shipped a Puzzle Platformer Simulation 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.. 181 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, ×0.8 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $59. Revenue is flat on the market; 181 games are announced against 119 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $59 (exactly $59) |
|---|---|
| Median | $479 (exactly $479) |
| Top 25% | $2.5k (exactly $2,545) |
| Top 5% | $29k (exactly $29,341) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 216 |
| Released games | 589 |
| Announced | 181 |
| 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 flat on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Puzzle Platformer
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Puzzle Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Puzzle, Platformer
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 7,819 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $59. 9 in 10 of the 120 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 181 games are announced against 119 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Human Fall Flat 2016 · $105M 
Chained Together 2024 · $8.2M 
WHAT THE GOLF? 2020 · $2.6M 
Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story 2023 · $2.5M 
Moncage 2021 · $2.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Human Fall Flat | older | $19.99 | 174,835 94% | 5.2M | $105M (exactly $104,848,549) | No Brakes Games |
| | Chained Together | older | $4.99 | 54,747 89% | 1.6M | $8.2M (exactly $8,195,626) | Anegar Games, Lab42 |
| | WHAT THE GOLF? | older | $19.99 | 4,324 93% | 130k | $2.6M (exactly $2,593,103) | Triband |
| | Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story | older | $29.99 | 2,742 94% | 82k | $2.5M (exactly $2,466,977) | Tequila Works |
| | Moncage | older | $14.99 | 5,127 92% | 154k | $2.3M (exactly $2,305,612) | Optillusion |
 | Heavenly Bodies | older | $19.99 | 3,741 95% | 112k | $2.2M (exactly $2,243,478) | 2pt Interactive |
 | Train Valley 2 | older | $14.99 | 2,356 90% | 71k | $1.1M (exactly $1,059,493) | Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timof… (Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm) |
 | Wordle | older | $30.62 | 1,147 80% | 34k | $1.1M (exactly $1,053,634) | PreoNus Games |
 | I am an Air Traffic Controller 4 | older | $59.99 | 566 79% | 17k | $1.0M (exactly $1,018,630) | TechnoBrain |
 | Vanity Fair: The Pursuit | older | $6.99 | 4,014 87% | 120k | $842k (exactly $841,736) | 木焱工作室 |
 | Game of Fate 2: A Century's Promise | $15.99 | 1,054 78% | 32k | $506k (exactly $505,604) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Carry The Glass | $4.99 | 2,839 75% | 85k | $425k (exactly $424,998) | Çağatay Demir, Enes Kaplan | |
 | Game Of Fate 3：Clash Of Crowns | $16.79 | 734 85% | 22k | $370k (exactly $369,716) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Game of Fate: Chasing Through Time | $10.99 | 986 88% | 30k | $325k (exactly $325,084) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Pinball Spire | $14.99 | 410 84% | 12k | $184k (exactly $184,377) | Apparition Games | |
 | FUTA RUNNER: Big Dick Edition | $6.99 | 733 66% | 22k | $154k (exactly $153,710) | Evil Boobs Cult | |
 | Moving Houses | $13.99 | 232 72% | 7.0k | $97k (exactly $97,370) | Gordon Little | |
 | Chained Wheels | $4.99 | 619 69% | 19k | $93k (exactly $92,664) | Karga Games | |
 | Human Fall Flat VR | $12.99 | 128 47% | 3.8k | $50k (exactly $49,882) | No Brakes Games | |
 | Cycle of Corruption | $14.99 | 84 94% | 2.5k | $38k (exactly $37,775) | Kredyn |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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