Incremental / idle
An average niche: demand and competition are roughly balanced — the idea and execution decide. Average across 5 platforms: niche 49/100, demand 62/100, competition 57/100, development cost 23/100. On Steam: 3,398 games and 90,777 players online; 8% of games reach 500+ reviews, average spend per player is $2.62.
Niche
49/100
Demand (0–100)
62/100
Competition
57/100
Dev cost
23/100
Spend per player
$2.62
Hit rate (500+ reviews)
8%
Key findings
- Ranked #52 of 100 in the overall niche ranking.
- The niche looks best on App Store (71/100) and weakest on Google Play (37/100).
- Competition is at a typical level: 57/100 vs a median of 57/100.
- Development is cheaper than typical: index 23/100 vs a median of 39/100 — the genre is within reach of a small team.
- On Steam, only 8% of games reached 500+ reviews — less often than usual (median 16%).
- Small-studio games make up 56% of all Steam games with this tag.
By platform
| Platform | Popularity | Games / leaders’ share | Competition | Niche | Dev cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | 61/100 | 3,398 | 65/100 | 39/100 | 20/100 |
| itch.io | 74/100 | 7,211 | 64/100 | 52/100 | 25/100 |
| Yandex Games | 41/100 | 430 | 49/100 | 46/100 | 20/100 |
| Google Play | 66/100 | 86% | 79/100 | 37/100 | 27/100 |
| App Store | 70/100 | 40% | 28/100 | 71/100 | 23/100 |
Example games — Steam
AAA / big hits
Insaniquarium DeluxePopCap Games, Inc. · $4.99
Puzzle GO!2KMAGIC STUDIO · $1.99
The Birth of an Artificial Intelligence基本操作PlayClass · $34.99
Indie
Clicker HeroesPlaysaurus · free
AdVenture CapitalistHyper Hippo Games · free
Cookie ClickerOrteil, DashNet · $4.99
Related genres
Data updated October 12, 2026 Methodology