Do I ship it?

Games › Score Attack › Score Attack + Underground

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Underground Score Attack game?

Score Attack + Underground

Of 23 developers who shipped an Underground Score Attack 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.. 18 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $750, ×1.6 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $150. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 18 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 25% on the market, 18 announced, ×1.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Score Attack + Underground
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 23
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.2k → $479 → $7.4k (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Score Attack + Underground: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 23
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $748 (exactly $748)
Top 25% $3.0k (exactly $2,994)
Top 5% $20k (exactly $20,093)
Developers, 2 yr 23
Released games 49
Announced 18
Effort 4 / 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 25% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, 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.

Score Attack
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
Underground
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Score Attack; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Arcade
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 2D, Atmospheric
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 98% positive over 13,714 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $750, 1 in 4 over $2.9k, 1 in 20 over $20k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 18 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Score Attack with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + MechsFair23 devs · median $6.2k · 24 announced
  2. + Spectacle fighterFair31 devs · median $4.3k · 29 announced
  3. + DragonsFair16 devs · median $2.1k · 11 announced
  4. + VampiresFair16 devs · median $1.7k · 14 announced
  5. + CookingFair28 devs · median $1.4k · 30 announced
  6. + SuperheroFair11 devs · median $1.3k · 5 announced
  7. + Female ProtagonistFair112 devs · median $1.2k · 104 announced
  8. + GolfFair11 devs · median $1.2k · 8 announced
  9. + GothicFair20 devs · median $959 · 14 announced
  10. + ModernFair53 devs · median $899 · 43 announced
  11. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair14 devs · median $898 · 11 announced
  12. + HackingFair16 devs · median $748 · 19 announced

All 200 pairs on the Score Attack page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

White Knuckle 2025 · EA · $6.8M Hot Lap League: Deluxe Edition 2022 · $76k Colony 37 2025 · EA · $20k Refund Me If You Can 2022 · $14k MetaMorph: Dungeon Creatures 2017 · EA · $9.9k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
White Knuckle · EA $16.99 13,356 98% 401k $6.8M (exactly $6,807,553) Dark Machine Games
Hot Lap League: Deluxe Edition older $14.99 169 78% 5.1k $76k (exactly $75,999) Ultimate Studio
Colony 37 · EA $2.99 224 95% 6.7k $20k (exactly $20,093) Valen
Refund Me If You Can older $3.99 113 78% 3.4k $14k (exactly $13,526) Sungame Studio
MetaMorph: Dungeon Creatures · EA older $9.99 33 81% 990 $9.9k (exactly $9,890) FireFly Studios
Bugscraper $9.99 28 96% 840 $8.4k (exactly $8,392) Yolwoocle, OLX, Verbaudet, Ninesliced
Rift Miner $7.99 31 93% 930 $7.4k (exactly $7,431) TIDERAFT
Radioactive Dwarfs: Evil From The Sewers older $4.99 44 95% 1.3k $6.6k (exactly $6,587) Slay Buherman
Pichon older $3.99 47 87% 1.4k $5.6k (exactly $5,626) Lisandro Lorea, Red Mage Games
MineRalph older $9.99 17 100% 510 $5.1k (exactly $5,095) Chop Chop Games
HOPSHOT $4.99 26 100% 780 $3.9k (exactly $3,892) mysticat
Mining Miner · EA $4.99 20 95% 600 $3.0k (exactly $2,994) Skollheim, MTSU
Imperial Settlers: Imperial Miners $12.99 5 100% 150 $1.9k (exactly $1,948) infoexpert games
Rusty Heights $2.99 13 100% 390 $1.2k (exactly $1,166) Trompinette Studio
Rumble Crumble $6.99 5 100% 150 $1.0k (exactly $1,048) StarCove Studio
Cool Game Pack $4.99 6 100% 180 $898 (exactly $898) COOL 2 Interactive

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