Games › Action-Adventure › Action-Adventure + Ninja
Should I ship a Ninja Action-Adventure?
Action-Adventure + Ninja
Of 43 developers who shipped a Ninja Action-Adventure 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.. 96 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $540, ×0.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $4.9M, ×7854 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 96 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $537 (exactly $537) |
| Top 25% | $4.8k (exactly $4,795) |
| Top 5% | $4.9M (exactly $4,932,513) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 43 |
| Released games | 183 |
| Announced | 96 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 55% on the market, supply as many developers as 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-Adventure
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Ninja
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Action-Adventure; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Action, Swordplay
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $49.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Third Person, Violent
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $49.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 49,831 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 7 in 10 of the 27 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 96 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action-Adventure with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + BikesFair
- + TransportationFair
- + MotorbikeFair
- + TypingLong shot
- + Time AttackLong shot
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Villain ProtagonistPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT | older | $59.99 | 64,591 93% | 1.9M | $116M (exactly $116,244,423) | Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Softwa… (Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Software) |
| | Assassin’s Creed Shadows | $69.99 | 34,953 75% | 1.0M | $73M (exactly $73,390,814) | Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Belgrade, Ubiso… (Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Belgrade, Ubisoft Bordeaux, Ubisoft Bucharest & Craiova, Ubisoft Chengdu, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Osaka, Ubisoft Philippines, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Sofia, Ubisoft Ukraine) | |
| | Ghostrunner | older | $29.99 | 46,818 91% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,122,155) | One More Level, 3D Realms, Slipgate Iro… (One More Level, 3D Realms, Slipgate Ironworks™, All in! Games) |
| | NINJA GAIDEN 4 | $69.99 | 8,459 88% | 254k | $18M (exactly $17,761,362) | PlatinumGames Inc. / Team NINJA / KOEI… (PlatinumGames Inc. / Team NINJA / KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.) | |
| | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge | older | $24.99 | 12,961 94% | 389k | $9.7M (exactly $9,716,862) | Tribute Games Inc. |
| | Ghostrunner 2 | older | $39.99 | 7,981 80% | 239k | $9.6M (exactly $9,574,806) | One More Level |
| | NARUTO X BORUTO Ultimate Ninja STORM CONNECTIONS | older | $59.99 | 3,881 62% | 116k | $7.0M (exactly $6,984,636) | CyberConnect2 Co., Ltd. |
| | NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM Revolution | older | $29.99 | 7,228 84% | 217k | $6.5M (exactly $6,503,032) | CyberConnect2 Co., Ltd. |
| | The Messenger | older | $19.99 | 10,711 92% | 321k | $6.4M (exactly $6,423,387) | Sabotage |
| | NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black | $49.99 | 3,289 78% | 99k | $4.9M (exactly $4,932,513) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. | |
| | Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny | $29.99 | 663 85% | 20k | $597k (exactly $596,501) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
| | Yasuke Simulator | $6.99 | 1,925 97% | 58k | $404k (exactly $403,672) | HistoryAccurateDevelopers | |
| | The Spirit of the Samurai | $19.99 | 413 59% | 12k | $248k (exactly $247,676) | Digital Mind Games | |
| | Eye of the Commando | · EA | $14.99 | 34 100% | 1.0k | $15k (exactly $15,290) | Adventurepro Games LLC |
| | The Last Ninja Collection + Bonus Games | $29.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $14k (exactly $14,395) | System 3 Software | |
| | Ninja Ordinance | $13.99 | 34 73% | 1.0k | $14k (exactly $14,270) | OneCoin | |
| | RHYTHMKILL | $9.99 | 45 82% | 1.4k | $13k (exactly $13,486) | GETTAKE |
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.