Do I ship it?

Games › Mechanics › Runner

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Runner?

Runner

Of 763 developers who shipped a Runner 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.. 774 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $180 in the last 2 years and $240 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 3 / 10 build. 404 developers shipped in the last year and 774 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue up 35% on the market, 774 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Runner
Fig. 1 · this niche among 355
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 763
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $359 → $449 → $238 → $238 → $210 → $297 → $179 (still earning) → $60 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Runner: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 763
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $179 (exactly $179)
Top 25% $959 (exactly $959)
Top 5% $20k (exactly $19,969)
Developers, 2 yr 763
Released games 2,641
Announced 774
Effort 3 / 10
AI-buildability High
Typical price $3.99

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 35% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 16%, 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.

Runner
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
Runner
Price point
$3.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 22,179 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $180, 1 in 4 over $950, 1 in 20 over $19k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 463 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 774 games are announced against 404 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · every pair with this tag

All pairs with Runner

92 pairs with a mechanicwith: mechanics · settings · any
  1. Loot + Runner Fair $1.6k 8 devs
  2. Local Multiplayer + Runner Fair $1.3k 23 devs
  3. Runner + Idler Fair $838 16 devs
  4. Runner + Visual Novel Fair $750 12 devs
  5. Runner + Time Attack Fair $599 15 devs
  6. FPS + Runner Long shot $958 39 devs
  7. 4 Player Local + Runner Poor odds $2.4k 12 devs
  8. Co-op + Runner Poor odds $1.0k 38 devs
  9. Online Co-Op + Runner Poor odds $898 40 devs
  10. Runner + Interactive Fiction Poor odds $839 10 devs
  11. Management + Runner Poor odds $802 9 devs
  12. PvP + Runner Poor odds $539 66 devs
  13. 3D Fighter + Runner Poor odds $537 14 devs
  14. Level Editor + Runner Poor odds $450 23 devs
  15. Driving + Runner Poor odds $449 44 devs
  16. Immersive Sim + Runner Poor odds $299 27 devs
  17. Hack and Slash + Runner Poor odds $299 15 devs
  18. Local Co-Op + Runner Poor odds $210 15 devs
  19. Bullet Time + Runner Poor odds $179 13 devs
  20. Split Screen + Runner Dead $2.4k 9 devs
  21. Hero Shooter + Runner Dead $2.2k 6 devs
  22. Spectacle fighter + Runner Dead $1.1k 12 devs
  23. Music-Based Procedural Generation + Runner Dead $809 7 devs
  24. Character Customization + Runner Dead $449 74 devs
  25. Bullet Hell + Runner Dead $449 30 devs
  26. Perma Death + Runner Dead $449 24 devs
  27. Runner + Choose Your Own Adventure Dead $446 18 devs
  28. Life Sim + Runner Dead $359 25 devs
  29. 6DOF + Runner Dead $356 10 devs
  30. Walking Simulator + Runner Dead $299 74 devs
  31. Stealth + Runner Dead $299 23 devs
  32. Multiple Endings + Runner Dead $299 19 devs
  33. Combat Racing + Runner Dead $298 37 devs
  34. Rhythm + Runner Dead $297 49 devs
  35. 3D Platformer + Runner Dead $269 227 devs
  36. Action-Adventure + Runner Dead $269 221 devs
  37. Precision Platformer + Runner Dead $269 181 devs
  38. Exploration + Runner Dead $269 131 devs
  39. Simulation + Runner Dead $269 113 devs
  40. Survival Horror + Runner Dead $269 18 devs
  41. Battle Royale + Runner Dead $240 14 devs
  42. Parkour + Runner Dead $239 179 devs
  43. Action + Runner Dead $238 486 devs
  44. Physics + Runner Dead $238 161 devs
  45. Runner + Score Attack Dead $238 141 devs
  46. Sports + Runner Dead $238 67 devs
  47. Open World + Runner Dead $238 37 devs
  48. Sandbox + Runner Dead $238 25 devs
  49. Action RPG + Runner Dead $238 24 devs
  50. Vehicular Combat + Runner Dead $238 12 devs
Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Ghostrunner 2 2023 · $9.6M Mirror's Edge™ Catalyst 2020 · $8.4M Haste 2025 · $7.6M TrackDayR 2021 · EA · $1.7M Melody's Escape 2016 · $1.3M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Ghostrunner 2 older $39.99 7,981 80% 239k $9.6M (exactly $9,574,806) One More Level
Mirror's Edge™ Catalyst older $19.99 14,078 79% 422k $8.4M (exactly $8,442,577) DICE
Haste $19.99 12,690 92% 381k $7.6M (exactly $7,610,193) Landfall
TrackDayR · EA older $24.99 2,213 86% 66k $1.7M (exactly $1,659,086) MadCow S.r.l.
Melody's Escape older $9.99 4,336 92% 130k $1.3M (exactly $1,299,499) Icetesy
Retrowave older $2.99 13,742 96% 412k $1.2M (exactly $1,232,657) RewindApp
STRIDE older $19.99 1,975 79% 59k $1.2M (exactly $1,184,408) Joy Way
Phantom Abyss older $19.99 1,962 81% 59k $1.2M (exactly $1,176,611) Team WIBY
Soda Crisis older $10.99 2,915 93% 87k $961k (exactly $961,076) Team Soda
SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell older $14.99 2,050 95% 62k $922k (exactly $921,885) Pine Studio
VHOLUME $8.00 2,992 97% 90k $718k (exactly $718,080) Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels… (Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels Tiercelin)
Bloodthief $19.99 1,017 95% 31k $610k (exactly $609,895) Blargis
Bionic Bay $19.99 750 84% 23k $450k (exactly $449,775) Psychoflow Studio, Mureena Oy
ODDCORE · EA $12.99 1,080 96% 32k $421k (exactly $420,876) ODDCORP
Nitro Express $12.99 1,069 75% 32k $417k (exactly $416,589) Grayfax Software
Island Notes $12.99 884 82% 27k $344k (exactly $344,495) KangBaoGame
Agreeee $4.99 1,150 74% 35k $172k (exactly $172,155) べすとまん
CONERU -DIMENSION GIRL- $19.99 263 96% 7.9k $158k (exactly $157,721) HIKE Inc., Eallin Japan Co.Ltd.
Melody's Escape 2 $14.99 284 95% 8.5k $128k (exactly $127,715) Icetesy

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