Do I ship it?

Games › Mechanics › Spelling

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Spelling game?

Spelling

Of 152 developers who shipped a Spelling 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.. 144 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 1 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $120 for a 1 / 10 build. 100 developers shipped in the last year and 144 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 2.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 50% on the market, 144 announced, ×1.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Spelling
Fig. 1 · this niche among 355
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 152
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $120 → $479 → $450 → $599 → $298 → $1.3k → $359 (still earning) → $30 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Spelling: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 152
Bottom 30% $89 (exactly $89)
Median $300 (exactly $300)
Top 25% $4.0k (exactly $4,047)
Top 5% $41k (exactly $41,006)
Developers, 2 yr 152
Released games 424
Announced 144
Effort 1 / 10
AI-buildability High
Typical price $5.99

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 50% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, 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.

Spelling
effort 1 / 10 · high · effort 1 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
1 / 10 · text and UI only
Systems
Spelling
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 3,825 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $89, median $300, 1 in 4 over $4.0k, 1 in 20 over $41k.

3 in 10 developers made under $89. 9 in 10 of the 69 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 144 games are announced against 100 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · every pair with this tag

All pairs with Spelling

26 pairs with a mechanicwith: mechanics · settings · any
  1. PvP + Spelling Long shot $719 14 devs
  2. Interactive Fiction + Spelling Poor odds $18k 8 devs
  3. Roguelike + Spelling Poor odds $4.2k 25 devs
  4. Adventure + Spelling Poor odds $3.6k 24 devs
  5. Simulation + Spelling Poor odds $3.2k 16 devs
  6. RPG + Spelling Poor odds $2.9k 17 devs
  7. Choices Matter + Spelling Poor odds $2.4k 11 devs
  8. Exploration + Spelling Poor odds $1.2k 13 devs
  9. Strategy + Spelling Poor odds $779 42 devs
  10. PvE + Spelling Poor odds $657 13 devs
  11. Visual Novel + Spelling Dead $4.0k 9 devs
  12. Spelling + Word Game Dead $300 102 devs
  13. Puzzle + Spelling Dead $300 81 devs
  14. Spelling + Typing Dead $300 72 devs
  15. Score Attack + Spelling Dead $300 26 devs
  16. Spelling + Trivia Dead $300 21 devs
  17. Incremental + Spelling Dead $300 10 devs
  18. Logic + Spelling Dead $299 25 devs
  19. Board Game + Spelling Dead $299 19 devs
  20. Tabletop + Spelling Dead $298 16 devs
  21. Action + Spelling Dead $239 22 devs
  22. Arcade + Spelling Dead $180 26 devs
  23. Point & Click + Spelling Dead $179 15 devs
  24. Time Management + Spelling Dead $179 6 devs
  25. Procedural Generation + Spelling Dead $150 9 devs
  26. Puzzle Platformer + Spelling Dead $119 7 devs
Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Draw & Guess 2021 · $4.7M Wordle 2021 · $1.1M Pronoun Palace 2026 · $743k Wordle 3 2020 · $560k Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 2020 · $364k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Draw & Guess older $4.99 31,627 83% 949k $4.7M (exactly $4,734,562) Acureus
Wordle older $30.62 1,147 80% 34k $1.1M (exactly $1,053,634) PreoNus Games
Pronoun Palace $19.84 1,249 99% 37k $743k (exactly $743,405) Cadence Petersen, Hazel Fackler
Wordle 3 older $30.62 610 78% 18k $560k (exactly $560,346) PreoNus Games
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire older $29.99 405 52% 12k $364k (exactly $364,378) Appeal Studios, Balio Studio
Wordle 2 older $30.62 394 61% 12k $362k (exactly $361,928) PreoNus Games
Word Play $7.99 1,010 89% 30k $242k (exactly $242,097) Game Maker's Toolkit
Paper Bride 5 Two Lifetimes older $9.99 606 84% 18k $182k (exactly $181,618) HeartBeat Plus
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader older $29.99 149 63% 4.5k $134k (exactly $134,055) Massive Miniteam
Paper Bride 6 Nightmare $9.99 369 81% 11k $111k (exactly $110,589) HeartBeat Plus
Touch Type Tale - Strategic Typing $19.99 107 89% 3.2k $64k (exactly $64,168) Pumpernickel Studio
Party Quiz $11.99 147 80% 4.4k $53k (exactly $52,876) White Ink
MORSE $13.99 124 93% 3.7k $52k (exactly $52,043) ALJO Games
Beyond Words $14.99 102 84% 3.1k $46k (exactly $45,869) MindFuel Games
WonderLang Polyglot $39.99 36 80% 1.1k $43k (exactly $43,189) bair games
Word Game World $11.99 114 62% 3.4k $41k (exactly $41,006) Team9
这是谐音梗 $2.40 567 94% 17k $41k (exactly $40,824) Find the Lamp Games

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