Do I ship it?

Games › Mechanics › Platformer

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Platformer?

Platformer

Of 3,323 developers who shipped a Platformer 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.. 5,212 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $540, ×1.1 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $100k, ×215 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 5,212 games are announced against 1,817 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 30% on the market, 5,212 announced, ×2.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Platformer
Fig. 1 · this niche among 355
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 3,323
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $839 → $718 → $807 → $719 → $600 → $599 → $479 (still earning) → $179 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Platformer: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 3,323
Bottom 30% $148 (exactly $148)
Median $538 (exactly $538)
Top 25% $3.6k (exactly $3,596)
Top 5% $102k (exactly $101,949)
Developers, 2 yr 3,323
Released games 13,045
Announced 5,212
Effort 3 / 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 30% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.

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Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.

Platformer
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
Platformer
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 852,889 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 $540, 1 in 4 over $3.5k, 1 in 20 over $100k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 2,001 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 5,212 games are announced against 1,817 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.

Plate 6 · every pair with this tag

All pairs with Platformer

61 pairs with a settingwith: mechanics · settings · any
  1. Platformer + Snow Poor odds $446 24 devs
  2. Platformer + Psychological Poor odds $359 58 devs
  3. Platformer + Martial Arts Dead $3.7k 18 devs
  4. Platformer + Faith Dead $539 13 devs
  5. Platformer + War Dead $479 13 devs
  6. Platformer + Space Dead $449 179 devs
  7. Platformer + Nature Dead $359 254 devs
  8. Platformer + Superhero Dead $359 24 devs
  9. Platformer + Modern Dead $299 35 devs
  10. Platformer + Alternate History Dead $299 16 devs
  11. Platformer + Artificial Intelligence Dead $239 37 devs
Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Terraria 2011 · $372M It Takes Two 2021 · $262M Hollow Knight: Silksong 2025 · $232M Hollow Knight 2017 · $226M STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™ 2019 · $184M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Terraria older $9.99 1,240,388 97% 37M $372M (exactly $371,744,284) Re-Logic
It Takes Two older $39.99 218,492 95% 6.6M $262M (exactly $262,124,852) Hazelight Studios
Hollow Knight: Silksong $19.99 386,977 89% 12M $232M (exactly $232,070,107) Team Cherry
Hollow Knight older $14.99 502,960 96% 15M $226M (exactly $226,181,112) Team Cherry
STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™ older $39.99 153,782 88% 4.6M $184M (exactly $184,492,265) Respawn Entertainment
Ori and the Will of the Wisps older $29.99 136,019 96% 4.1M $122M (exactly $122,376,294) Moon Studios GmbH
Cuphead older $19.99 198,790 96% 6.0M $119M (exactly $119,214,363) Studio MDHR Entertainment Inc.
Split Fiction $49.99 78,378 97% 2.4M $118M (exactly $117,543,487) Hazelight Studios
Dead Cells older $24.99 156,263 97% 4.7M $117M (exactly $117,150,371) Motion Twin
Portal 2 older $9.99 390,412 98% 12M $117M (exactly $117,006,476) Valve
PEAK $7.99 301,964 94% 9.1M $72M (exactly $72,380,771) Team PEAK
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle $69.99 13,058 89% 392k $27M (exactly $27,417,883) MachineGames
SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS $49.99 12,178 96% 365k $18M (exactly $18,263,347) Sonic Team
ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist $24.99 17,143 95% 514k $13M (exactly $12,852,107) Adglobe, Live Wire
Little Nightmares III $39.99 10,165 46% 305k $12M (exactly $12,194,950) Supermassive Games
Haste $19.99 12,690 92% 381k $7.6M (exactly $7,610,193) Landfall
White Knuckle · EA $16.99 13,356 98% 401k $6.8M (exactly $6,807,553) Dark Machine Games
Rivals of Aether II $29.99 6,980 78% 209k $6.3M (exactly $6,279,906) Aether Studios

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