Do I ship it?

Games › Mechanics › Cooking

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Cooking game?

Cooking

Of 640 developers who shipped a Cooking 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.. 1,252 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×6.1 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $560k, ×1187 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 1,252 games are announced against 403 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 6.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 10% on the market, 1,252 announced, ×3.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Cooking
Fig. 1 · this niche among 355
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 640
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.6k → $3.2k → $3.9k → $5.4k → $3.0k → $4.2k → $2.4k (still earning) → $1.7k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Cooking: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 640
Bottom 30% $599 (exactly $599)
Median $2.9k (exactly $2,875)
Top 25% $27k (exactly $26,978)
Top 5% $564k (exactly $563,736)
Developers, 2 yr 640
Released games 1,374
Announced 1,252
Effort 3 / 10
AI-buildability High
Typical price $7.99

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 10% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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 high: the lowest rating among its tags.

Cooking
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
Systems
Cooking
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.90 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.90 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 96,998 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $600, median $2.9k, 1 in 4 over $26k, 1 in 20 over $560k.

3 in 10 developers made under $600. 7 in 10 of the 317 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 1,252 games are announced against 403 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · every pair with this tag

All pairs with Cooking

96 pairs · ranked by verdict, then medianwith: mechanics · settings · any
  1. Action Roguelike + Cooking Poor odds $4.9k 18 devs
  2. Exploration + Cooking Poor odds $4.8k 120 devs
  3. Dungeon Crawler + Cooking Poor odds $4.2k 14 devs
  4. Hack and Slash + Cooking Poor odds $4.2k 10 devs
  5. Action + Cooking Poor odds $4.0k 123 devs
  6. Cooking + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $4.0k 28 devs
  7. Hunting + Cooking Poor odds $4.0k 18 devs
  8. Action-Adventure + Cooking Poor odds $3.8k 56 devs
  9. Cooking + Roguelite Poor odds $3.8k 45 devs
  10. Simulation + Cooking Poor odds $3.6k 439 devs
  11. Cooking + Interactive Fiction Poor odds $3.6k 38 devs
  12. Cooking + Nature Poor odds $3.5k 56 devs
  13. Survival + Cooking Poor odds $3.5k 56 devs
  14. Cooking + Roguelike Poor odds $3.4k 34 devs
  15. Cooking + Magic Poor odds $3.3k 29 devs
  16. 4 Player Local + Cooking Poor odds $3.1k 14 devs
  17. Cooking + Time Management Poor odds $3.0k 175 devs
  18. Cooking + Modern Poor odds $3.0k 23 devs
  19. Cooking + Mystery Poor odds $3.0k 32 devs
  20. Automation + Cooking Poor odds $2.9k 39 devs
  21. Strategy + Cooking Poor odds $2.8k 115 devs
  22. Choices Matter + Cooking Poor odds $2.7k 59 devs
  23. Collectathon + Cooking Poor odds $2.4k 37 devs
  24. Cooking + Shop Keeper Poor odds $2.2k 117 devs
  25. Cooking + Idler Poor odds $2.2k 44 devs
  26. Shooter + Cooking Poor odds $2.1k 17 devs
  27. Combat + Cooking Poor odds $2.0k 30 devs
  28. FPS + Cooking Poor odds $1.8k 23 devs
  29. Cooking + Deckbuilding Poor odds $1.7k 27 devs
  30. City Builder + Cooking Poor odds $1.7k 25 devs
  31. Physics + Cooking Poor odds $1.7k 78 devs
  32. Mining + Cooking Poor odds $1.7k 19 devs
  33. PvE + Cooking Poor odds $1.5k 29 devs
  34. Action RPG + Cooking Poor odds $1.5k 19 devs
  35. PvP + Cooking Poor odds $1.4k 21 devs
  36. Loot + Cooking Poor odds $1.3k 10 devs
  37. Cooking + Incremental Poor odds $1.3k 49 devs
  38. Cooking + Platformer Poor odds $1.2k 23 devs
  39. 2D Platformer + Cooking Poor odds $1.1k 34 devs
  40. 3D Platformer + Cooking Poor odds $1.1k 26 devs
  41. Cooking + Card Game Poor odds $959 26 devs
  42. Cooking + Match 3 Poor odds $809 11 devs
  43. Arcade + Cooking Poor odds $748 94 devs
  44. Cooking + Cats Poor odds $748 25 devs
  45. Party Game + Cooking Poor odds $599 21 devs
  46. Procedural Generation + Cooking Dead $3.0k 9 devs
Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Overcooked! 2 2018 · $46M Disney Dreamlight Valley 2023 · $26M Black Desert 2017 · $19M Sun Haven 2023 · $17M The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty 2024 · $15M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Overcooked! 2 older $24.99 61,956 90% 1.9M $46M (exactly $46,448,413) Ghost Town Games Ltd., Team17
Disney Dreamlight Valley older $39.99 22,027 92% 661k $26M (exactly $26,425,792) Gameloft
Black Desert older $9.99 63,052 75% 1.9M $19M (exactly $18,896,684) Pearl Abyss
Sun Haven older $24.99 22,069 79% 662k $17M (exactly $16,545,129) Pixel Sprout Studios
The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty older $9.99 49,765 94% 1.5M $15M (exactly $14,914,570) 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame)
Fields of Mistria $13.99 31,918 96% 958k $13M (exactly $13,395,985) NPC Studio
Hello Kitty Island Adventure $39.99 9,637 93% 289k $12M (exactly $11,561,509) Sunblink
PlateUp! older $19.99 18,500 94% 555k $11M (exactly $11,094,450) It's happening
Cooking Simulator older $19.99 17,837 84% 535k $11M (exactly $10,696,849) Big Cheese Studio
Stranded: Alien Dawn older $34.99 9,715 84% 291k $10M (exactly $10,197,836) Haemimont Games
SULFUR · EA $24.99 9,641 87% 289k $7.2M (exactly $7,227,858) Perfect Random
Starsand Island $39.99 5,898 76% 177k $7.1M (exactly $7,075,831) Seed Sparkle Lab
STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar $49.99 3,140 93% 94k $4.7M (exactly $4,709,058) Marvelous Inc.
Tavern Keeper 🍻 · EA $29.99 4,563 94% 137k $4.1M (exactly $4,105,331) Greenheart Games 💚
Fast Food Simulator · EA $14.99 8,653 86% 260k $3.9M (exactly $3,891,254) No Ceiling Games
Kebab Chefs! - Restaurant Simulator $17.99 7,019 83% 211k $3.8M (exactly $3,788,154) Biotech Gameworks
The Quinfall $9.99 12,073 50% 362k $3.6M (exactly $3,618,278) Vawraek Technology Inc.
Farm Together 2 $25.99 4,456 93% 134k $3.5M (exactly $3,474,343) Milkstone Studios

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