Board games
A promising niche: there are players and relatively few competitors. Average across 5 platforms: niche 67/100, demand 79/100, competition 40/100, development cost 26/100. On Steam: 2,091 games and 36,817 players online; 11% of games reach 500+ reviews, average spend per player is $9.23.
Niche
67/100
Demand (0–100)
79/100
Competition
40/100
Dev cost
26/100
Spend per player
$9.23
Hit rate (500+ reviews)
11%
Key findings
- Ranked #3 of 100 in the overall niche ranking.
- The niche looks best on App Store (85/100) and weakest on Steam (39/100).
- Competition is below typical: 40/100 vs a median of 57/100 — a new game has an easier time getting noticed.
- Development is cheaper than typical: index 26/100 vs a median of 39/100 — the genre is within reach of a small team.
- On Steam, only 11% of games reached 500+ reviews — less often than usual (median 16%).
- Small-studio games make up 52% of all Steam games with this tag.
By platform
| Platform | Popularity | Games / leaders’ share | Competition | Niche | Dev cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | 52/100 | 2,091 | 58/100 | 39/100 | 28/100 |
| itch.io | 75/100 | 4,989 | 60/100 | 55/100 | 25/100 |
| Yandex Games | 100/100 | 484 | 51/100 | 70/100 | 23/100 |
| Google Play | 81/100 | 42% | 11/100 | 85/100 | 30/100 |
| App Store | 88/100 | 32% | 18/100 | 85/100 | 25/100 |
Example games — Steam
AAA / big hits
UNOUbisoft Entertainment · $9.99
MONOPOLY PLUSUbisoft Pune · free
Lara Croft GOSquare Enix Montréal · $9.99
Indie
Business Tour - Board Game with Online Multiplayer8Floor · free
Tabletop SimulatorBerserk Games · $19.99
Pummel PartyRebuilt Games · $14.99
Related genres
Data updated October 12, 2026 Methodology