Do I ship it?

Games › Mechanics › Solitaire

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Solitaire game?

Solitaire

Of 321 developers who shipped a Solitaire 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.. 283 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 1 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $240 in the last 2 years and $330 over 4, against a market of $120 for a 1 / 10 build. 193 developers shipped in the last year and 283 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 2.0 times the market baseline, revenue down 10% on the market, 283 announced, ×1.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Solitaire
Fig. 1 · this niche among 355
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 321
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $896 → $719 → $742 → $564 → $419 → $449 → $239 (still earning) → $119 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Solitaire: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 321
Bottom 30% $60 (exactly $60)
Median $239 (exactly $239)
Top 25% $1.6k (exactly $1,618)
Top 5% $27k (exactly $26,861)
Developers, 2 yr 321
Released games 1,196
Announced 283
Effort 1 / 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 down 10% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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.

Solitaire
effort 1 / 10 · high · fixed rules, cards and a table

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
1 / 10 · text and UI only
Systems
Solitaire
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 48% positive over 29,429 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $60, median $240, 1 in 4 over $1.6k, 1 in 20 over $26k.

3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 180 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 283 games are announced against 193 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · every pair with this tag

All pairs with Solitaire

19 pairs with a settingwith: mechanics · settings · any
  1. Solitaire + Female Protagonist Fair $3.3k 9 devs
  2. Solitaire + Artificial Intelligence Fair $2.3k 8 devs
  3. Solitaire + Romance Fair $1.1k 11 devs
  4. Solitaire + Fantasy Fair $479 48 devs
  5. Solitaire + Medieval Long shot $297 19 devs
  6. Solitaire + Historical Poor odds $1.7k 14 devs
  7. Solitaire + Cats Poor odds $1.5k 16 devs
  8. Solitaire + Psychological Poor odds $720 13 devs
  9. Solitaire + Demons Poor odds $269 11 devs
  10. Solitaire + Horror Poor odds $150 22 devs
  11. Solitaire + Psychological Horror Dead $2.3k 12 devs
  12. Solitaire + Mystery Dead $239 21 devs
  13. Solitaire + Magic Dead $210 23 devs
  14. Solitaire + Modern Dead $210 12 devs
  15. Solitaire + Nature Dead $179 17 devs
  16. Solitaire + Sci-fi Dead $150 23 devs
  17. Solitaire + Detective Dead $150 9 devs
  18. Solitaire + Space Dead $120 11 devs
  19. Solitaire + Dark Fantasy Dead $89 19 devs
Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Stacklands 2022 · $7.0M Your Only Move Is HUSTLE 2023 · $5.8M Root 2020 · $2.3M BidKing 2026 · $2.0M SHENZHEN I/O 2016 · $1.7M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Stacklands older $7.99 29,244 96% 877k $7.0M (exactly $7,009,787) Sokpop Collective
Your Only Move Is HUSTLE older $4.99 38,703 96% 1.2M $5.8M (exactly $5,793,839) Ivy Sly
Root older $14.99 5,049 90% 151k $2.3M (exactly $2,270,535) Dire Wolf
BidKing $2.99 22,238 33% 667k $2.0M (exactly $1,994,749) MindSurge Network & Games
SHENZHEN I/O older $14.99 3,746 95% 112k $1.7M (exactly $1,684,576) Zachtronics
Retirement Simulator · EA older $13.99 3,757 34% 113k $1.6M (exactly $1,576,813) DoubleThink Studio
Dice & Fold older $12.99 3,491 83% 105k $1.4M (exactly $1,360,443) Tinymice Entertainment
Cardboard Town older $19.99 2,051 79% 62k $1.2M (exactly $1,229,985) Stratera Games, cukuto
Forbidden Solitaire $15.99 2,245 96% 67k $1.1M (exactly $1,076,926) Grey Alien Games, Night Signal Entertai… (Grey Alien Games, Night Signal Entertainment)
Last Call BBS older $19.99 1,220 94% 37k $732k (exactly $731,634) Zachtronics
Rana Card $12.99 1,183 89% 35k $461k (exactly $461,015) VisionRana
Kaizen: A Factory Story $19.99 694 91% 21k $416k (exactly $416,192) Coincidence
One Turn Kill $7.99 1,478 95% 44k $354k (exactly $354,277) DenDen
Zoominoes $14.99 549 91% 16k $247k (exactly $246,885) Starlight Games inc.
Wordatro! $9.99 401 85% 12k $120k (exactly $120,180) Le Poulet
Sherman Commander $29.99 117 64% 3.5k $105k (exactly $105,265) Iron Wolf Studio S.A.
U.V.S. Nirmana $14.99 213 88% 6.4k $96k (exactly $95,786) Coincidence
Queens Casino $9.99 311 98% 9.3k $93k (exactly $93,207) sartahouse

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