Do I ship it?

GamesSettingsSnow

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Snow game?

Snow

Of 194 developers who shipped a Snow 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.. 266 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $810, ×1.7 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $350k, ×741 the market median. Revenue is up 50% on the market; 266 games are announced against 110 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 50% on the market, 266 announced, ×2.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Snow
Fig. 1 · this niche among 355
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 194
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $239 → $1.5k → $1.5k → $750 → $1.6k → $898 → $598 (still earning) → $1.2k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Snow: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 194
Bottom 30% $179 (exactly $179)
Median $807 (exactly $807)
Top 25% $5.6k (exactly $5,571)
Top 5% $352k (exactly $352,086)
Developers, 2 yr 194
Released games 556
Announced 266
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $6.99

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 50% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.

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Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

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

Snow
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
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 88% positive over 71,471 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $810, 1 in 4 over $5.5k, 1 in 20 over $350k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 103 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 266 games are announced against 110 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · every pair with this tag

All pairs with Snow

0 pairs with a settingwith: mechanics · settings · any

No pair with Snow has 25 games yet.

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
SnowRunner older $29.99 46,343 90% 1.4M $42M (exactly $41,694,797) Saber Interactive
Frostpunk 2 $44.99 20,872 74% 626k $28M (exactly $28,170,938) 11 bit studios
Steep™ older $29.99 30,589 82% 918k $28M (exactly $27,520,923) Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ub… (Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Kiev)
Mon Bazou $15.99 19,922 97% 598k $9.6M (exactly $9,556,583) Santa Goat
Assetto Corsa Rally · EA $29.99 8,757 87% 263k $7.9M (exactly $7,878,673) Supernova Games Studios
Project Winter older $9.99 13,662 84% 410k $4.1M (exactly $4,094,501) Other Ocean Interactive
Sledders $29.99 4,372 95% 131k $3.9M (exactly $3,933,488) Hanki Games
Easy Delivery Co. $12.99 9,538 95% 286k $3.7M (exactly $3,716,959) Sam C
Bread & Fred older $14.99 4,217 79% 127k $1.9M (exactly $1,896,385) SandCastles Studio
LOST PLANET® 3 older $24.99 2,008 64% 60k $1.5M (exactly $1,505,398) Spark Unlimited
Lushfoil Photography Sim $14.99 1,718 91% 52k $773k (exactly $772,585) Matt2
Sledding Game · EA $7.99 2,915 96% 87k $699k (exactly $698,726) The Sledding Corporation
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders $24.99 749 91% 22k $562k (exactly $561,525) Megagon Industries
OxyRail · EA $14.99 949 80% 28k $427k (exactly $426,765) OxygenTech Limited
Meltopia $6.99 1,679 85% 50k $352k (exactly $352,086) Garden of Dreams

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