Should I ship a Hand-Drawn game?
Hand-drawn
Of 2,463 developers who shipped a Hand-Drawn 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.. 4,728 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×3.8 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $390; 1 in 20 cleared $230k, ×487 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 4,728 games are announced against 1,482 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $390 (exactly $390) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,887) |
| Top 5% | $231k (exactly $231,482) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 2,463 |
| Released games | 8,225 |
| Announced | 4,728 |
| Effort | 3 / 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 up 10% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Hand-drawn
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 654,659 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $390. 8 in 10 of the 1,539 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 4,728 games are announced against 1,482 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
All pairs with Hand-drawn
No pair with Hand-drawn has 25 games yet.
Comparable games
Hollow Knight: Silksong 2025 · $232M 
Hollow Knight 2017 · $226M 
Hades 2020 · $214M 
Cuphead 2017 · $119M 
鬼谷八荒 Tale of Immortal 2023 · $114M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hollow Knight: Silksong | $19.99 | 386,977 89% | 12M | $232M (exactly $232,070,107) | Team Cherry | |
| | Hollow Knight | older | $14.99 | 502,960 96% | 15M | $226M (exactly $226,181,112) | Team Cherry |
| | Hades | older | $24.99 | 285,748 97% | 8.6M | $214M (exactly $214,225,276) | Supergiant Games |
| | Cuphead | older | $19.99 | 198,790 96% | 6.0M | $119M (exactly $119,214,363) | Studio MDHR Entertainment Inc. |
| | 鬼谷八荒 Tale of Immortal | older | $19.99 | 190,184 56% | 5.7M | $114M (exactly $114,053,345) | 鬼谷工作室 |
 | Hades II | $29.99 | 114,419 95% | 3.4M | $103M (exactly $102,942,774) | Supergiant Games | |
 | OMORI | older | $19.99 | 79,836 97% | 2.4M | $48M (exactly $47,877,649) | OMOCAT, LLC |
 | Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition | older | $29.99 | 47,176 94% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,444,247) | Thunder Lotus |
 | GRIS | older | $14.99 | 83,857 96% | 2.5M | $38M (exactly $37,710,493) | Nomada Studio |
 | Nine Sols | older | $29.99 | 40,138 94% | 1.2M | $36M (exactly $36,112,159) | RedCandleGames |
 | MECCHA CHAMELEON | $5.99 | 78,746 87% | 2.4M | $14M (exactly $14,150,656) | lemorion_1224 | |
 | MOUSE: P.I. For Hire | $29.99 | 14,604 93% | 438k | $13M (exactly $13,139,219) | Fumi Games | |
 | Backpack Battles | $14.99 | 18,933 91% | 568k | $8.5M (exactly $8,514,170) | PlayWithFurcifer | |
 | Absolum | $24.99 | 9,399 91% | 282k | $7.0M (exactly $7,046,430) | Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, Supamonks | |
 | Esoteric Ebb | $24.99 | 8,719 95% | 262k | $6.5M (exactly $6,536,634) | Christoffer Bodegård | |
 | Neva | $19.99 | 9,343 93% | 280k | $5.6M (exactly $5,602,997) | Nomada Studio | |
 | UNBEATABLE | $27.99 | 6,552 92% | 197k | $5.5M (exactly $5,501,714) | D-CELL GAMES | |
 | Tiny Bookshop | $19.99 | 6,967 96% | 209k | $4.2M (exactly $4,178,110) | neoludic games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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