Games › Action › Action + Mystery Dungeon
Should I ship a Mystery Dungeon Action game?
Action + Mystery Dungeon
Of 176 developers who shipped a Mystery Dungeon Action 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.. 275 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $190k, ×308 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 275 games are announced against 94 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $450 (exactly $450) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,588) |
| Top 5% | $193k (exactly $193,423) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 176 |
| Released games | 538 |
| Announced | 275 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 flat on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Action
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Mystery Dungeon
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Action, Mystery Dungeon; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Action-Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 2D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 10,691 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 104 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 275 games are announced against 94 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Real-Time with PauseFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + PinballFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + BaseballFair
- + BilliardsFair
- + IdlerFair
- + TennisFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + TabletopFair
- + WuxiaPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy | $49.99 | 3,558 92% | 107k | $5.3M (exactly $5,335,933) | Asobo Studio | |
| | Hammerwatch II | older | $24.99 | 1,871 60% | 56k | $1.4M (exactly $1,402,689) | Crackshell |
| | ENDLESS Dungeon™ - Definitive Edition | older | $14.99 | 2,953 64% | 89k | $1.3M (exactly $1,327,964) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
| | Boyfriend Dungeon | older | $19.99 | 2,105 91% | 63k | $1.3M (exactly $1,262,368) | Kitfox Games |
| | The Classrooms | · EA older | $12.99 | 3,040 89% | 91k | $1.2M (exactly $1,184,688) | Xefier Games, Hillcrest Games Inc. |
| | In Verbis Virtus | older | $19.99 | 1,464 78% | 44k | $878k (exactly $877,961) | Indomitus Games |
| | Stonemachia | $19.99 | 1,244 95% | 37k | $746k (exactly $746,027) | Crossfall Games | |
| | Spark in the Dark | · EA | $16.99 | 1,174 87% | 35k | $598k (exactly $598,388) | Stellar Fish |
| | Rustil: Eternal Labyrinth Castle | $18.99 | 950 71% | 29k | $541k (exactly $541,215) | KTMG LLC. | |
| | Hellboy Web of Wyrd | older | $24.99 | 681 71% | 20k | $511k (exactly $510,546) | Upstream Arcade |
| | Skull Horde | $12.99 | 1,083 81% | 32k | $422k (exactly $422,045) | 8BitSkull | |
| | EXD - Extra Dimensional | $29.99 | 316 82% | 9.5k | $284k (exactly $284,305) | Lords of Illusion | |
| | Guidus Zero | $14.99 | 609 75% | 18k | $274k (exactly $273,867) | izzle | |
| | The Coma 2B: Catacomb | $14.99 | 584 75% | 18k | $263k (exactly $262,625) | Dvora Studio Co., Ltd. | |
| | Unmourned | $24.99 | 258 79% | 7.7k | $193k (exactly $193,423) | Codebros Studio | |
| | PIT OF GOBLIN | · EA | $5.99 | 915 84% | 27k | $164k (exactly $164,426) | Friendly Foe |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.