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Should I ship a Spelling Word Game?
Spelling + Word Game
Of 102 developers who shipped a Spelling Word 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.. 98 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 1 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $120 for a 1 / 10 build. 66 developers shipped in the last year and 98 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 25% | $3.8k (exactly $3,835) |
| Top 5% | $46k (exactly $45,869) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 102 |
| Released games | 276 |
| Announced | 98 |
| Effort | 1 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 60% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, 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
- 1 / 10 · text and UI only
- Systems
- Spelling, Word Game; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Typing, Puzzle, Roguelike
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 3,829 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 47 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 98 games are announced against 66 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Spelling with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + MagicFair
- + PvPLong shot
- + Interactive FictionPoor odds
- + RoguelikePoor odds
- + AdventurePoor odds
- + SimulationPoor odds
- + RPGPoor odds
- + Choices MatterPoor odds
- + ExplorationPoor odds
- + StrategyPoor odds
- + FantasyPoor odds
- + PvEPoor odds
Comparable games
Wordle 2021 · $1.1M 
Pronoun Palace 2026 · $743k 
Wordle 3 2020 · $560k 
Wordle 2 2020 · $362k 
Word Play 2025 · $242k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 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 |
| | Word Play | $7.99 | 1,010 89% | 30k | $242k (exactly $242,097) | Game Maker's Toolkit | |
 | 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 | |
 | スペルトナエル | older | $8.99 | 344 97% | 10k | $93k (exactly $92,777) | おまど |
 | 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 |
 | Touch Type Tale - Strategic Typing | $19.99 | 107 89% | 3.2k | $64k (exactly $64,168) | Pumpernickel Studio | |
 | MORSE | $13.99 | 124 93% | 3.7k | $52k (exactly $52,043) | ALJO Games | |
 | Beyond Words | $14.99 | 102 84% | 3.1k | $46k (exactly $45,869) | MindFuel Games | |
 | WonderLang Polyglot | $39.99 | 36 80% | 1.1k | $43k (exactly $43,189) | bair 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 | |
 | Гвалт | $7.99 | 151 93% | 4.5k | $36k (exactly $36,195) | maxter |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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