Should I ship a Sports game?
Sports
Of 1,265 developers who shipped a Sports 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.. 1,497 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $960, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $150. Revenue is down 15% on the market; 1,497 games are announced against 779 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $959 (exactly $959) |
| Top 25% | $8.8k (exactly $8,807) |
| Top 5% | $291k (exactly $290,854) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 1,265 |
| Released games | 5,730 |
| Announced | 1,497 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 15% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Sports
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sports
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 66% positive over 360,927 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 797 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 1,497 games are announced against 779 developers who shipped in the last year.
All pairs with Sports
- Sports + Dynamic Narration Strong odds $4.2k
- Sports + Crafting Fair $37k
- Sports + Strategy RPG Fair $4.7k
- Sandbox + Sports Fair $4.2k
- Sports + Split Screen Fair $4.0k
- Sports + Dating Sim Fair $3.6k
- Sports + Visual Novel Fair $3.4k
- Sports + LGBTQ+ Fair $3.4k
- Sports + FMV Fair $2.7k
- Bikes + Sports Fair $2.5k
- Immersive Sim + Sports Fair $2.4k
- Sports + Choices Matter Fair $2.4k
- Sports + Choose Your Own Adventure Fair $2.4k
- Sports + Historical Fair $2.1k
- Cycling + Sports Fair $2.1k
- Grand Strategy + Sports Fair $2.1k
- Automation + Sports Fair $1.9k
- Sports + Time Attack Fair $1.8k
- Sports + Simulation Fair $1.8k
- Sports + Local Multiplayer Fair $1.6k
- Sports + Action Roguelike Fair $1.6k
- Sports + Interactive Fiction Fair $1.5k
- Sports + Adventure Fair $1.5k
- RPG + Sports Fair $1.5k
- Sports + Modern Fair $1.3k
- Football (American) + Sports Fair $1.3k
- Sports + Idler Fair $1.3k
- Sports + Horror Fair $1.3k
- Sports + Local Co-Op Fair $1.2k
- Baseball + Sports Fair $1.2k
- Sports + Artificial Intelligence Fair $1.0k
- Sports + Survival Horror Fair $959
- Sports + Zombies Fair $900
- Sports + Dogs Fair $899
- Sports + Board Game Fair $719
- Sports + Tennis Fair $719
- Sports + Puzzle Fair $624
- Sports + Hidden Object Fair $600
- Sports + Pinball Fair $600
- Sports + Space Fair $538
- Sports + Solitaire Fair $479
- Space Sim + Sports Fair $479
- Sports + Billiards Fair $450
- RTS + Sports Long shot $861
- Motocross + Sports Long shot $839
- Sports + Trading Poor odds $34k
- Sports + Inventory Management Poor odds $24k
- Skiing + Sports Poor odds $16k
- Motorbike + Sports Poor odds $14k
- Skateboarding + Sports Poor odds $8.2k
Comparable games
Forza Horizon 5 2021 · $468M 
Need for Speed™ Heat 2020 · $271M 
EA SPORTS FC™ 26 2025 · $209M 
Forza Horizon 6 2026 · $182M 
Need for Speed™ Unbound 2022 · $105M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Forza Horizon 5 | older | $59.99 | 260,218 89% | 7.8M | $468M (exactly $468,314,335) | Playground Games |
| | Need for Speed™ Heat | older | $69.99 | 128,933 84% | 3.9M | $271M (exactly $270,720,620) | Ghost Games |
| | EA SPORTS FC™ 26 | $69.99 | 99,773 50% | 3.0M | $209M (exactly $209,493,368) | EA Canada, EA Romania | |
| | Forza Horizon 6 | $69.99 | 86,730 82% | 2.6M | $182M (exactly $182,106,981) | Playground Games | |
| | Need for Speed™ Unbound | older | $69.99 | 49,862 61% | 1.5M | $105M (exactly $104,695,241) | Criterion Games |
 | theHunter: Call of the Wild™ | older | $19.99 | 170,472 89% | 5.1M | $102M (exactly $102,232,058) | Expansive Worlds |
 | TEKKEN 7 | older | $39.99 | 68,063 83% | 2.0M | $82M (exactly $81,655,181) | BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc. |
 | Assetto Corsa | older | $19.99 | 136,067 92% | 4.1M | $82M (exactly $81,599,380) | Kunos Simulazioni |
 | The Crew™ 2 | older | $29.99 | 86,533 78% | 2.6M | $78M (exactly $77,853,740) | Ivory Tower |
 | NBA 2K25 | older | $69.99 | 30,969 60% | 929k | $65M (exactly $65,025,609) | Visual Concepts |
 | NBA 2K26 | $69.99 | 25,651 66% | 770k | $54M (exactly $53,859,405) | Visual Concepts | |
 | Football Manager 26 | $59.99 | 21,490 37% | 645k | $39M (exactly $38,675,553) | Sports Interactive | |
 | F1® 25 | $49.99 | 25,395 87% | 762k | $38M (exactly $38,084,882) | Codemasters | |
 | REMATCH | $29.99 | 39,905 70% | 1.2M | $36M (exactly $35,902,528) | Sloclap | |
 | Undisputed | $49.99 | 19,190 60% | 576k | $29M (exactly $28,779,243) | Steel City Interactive | |
 | INAZUMA ELEVEN: Victory Road | $69.99 | 11,180 88% | 335k | $23M (exactly $23,474,646) | LEVEL5 Inc. | |
 | Assetto Corsa EVO | · EA | $39.99 | 16,545 60% | 496k | $20M (exactly $19,849,036) | KUNOS Simulazioni |
 | Le Mans Ultimate | $39.99 | 15,068 79% | 452k | $18M (exactly $18,077,080) | Studio 397 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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