Games › Simulation › Simulation + Action Roguelike
Should I ship an Action Roguelike Simulation game?
Simulation + Action Roguelike
Of 165 developers who shipped an Action Roguelike Simulation 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.. 268 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $810, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $360k, ×576 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 268 games are announced against 96 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $148 (exactly $148) |
|---|---|
| Median | $810 (exactly $810) |
| Top 25% | $9.1k (exactly $9,109) |
| Top 5% | $362k (exactly $362,008) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 165 |
| Released games | 409 |
| Announced | 268 |
| 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 down 10% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Action Roguelike
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Action Roguelike; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelike, Roguelite
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 36,599 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 100 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 268 games are announced against 96 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Moonlighter 2018 · $10M 
HighFleet 2021 · $6.3M 
EVERSPACE™ 2017 · $5.9M 
Exanima 2015 · EA · $5.7M 
Bad North: Jotunn Edition 2018 · $5.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Moonlighter | older | $19.99 | 17,286 82% | 519k | $10M (exactly $10,366,414) | Digital Sun |
| | HighFleet | older | $29.99 | 7,024 88% | 211k | $6.3M (exactly $6,319,493) | Konstantin Koshutin |
| | EVERSPACE™ | older | $19.99 | 9,809 77% | 294k | $5.9M (exactly $5,882,457) | ROCKFISH Games |
| | Exanima | · EA older | $14.99 | 12,684 80% | 381k | $5.7M (exactly $5,703,995) | Bare Mettle Entertainment |
| | Bad North: Jotunn Edition | older | $14.99 | 12,344 93% | 370k | $5.6M (exactly $5,551,097) | Plausible Concept, Oskar Stålberg |
 | We Who Are About To Die | · EA older | $21.99 | 8,134 88% | 244k | $5.4M (exactly $5,366,000) | Jordy Lakiere |
 | Gamble With Your Friends | $7.99 | 18,883 89% | 566k | $4.5M (exactly $4,526,255) | TEAM GWYF | |
 | Pixel Piracy | older | $14.99 | 5,713 65% | 171k | $2.6M (exactly $2,569,136) | Vitali Kirpu |
 | UNDERDOGS | older | $29.99 | 2,788 97% | 84k | $2.5M (exactly $2,508,364) | One Hamsa |
 | Atomicrops | older | $14.99 | 5,134 93% | 154k | $2.3M (exactly $2,308,760) | Bird Bath Games |
 | Everything is Crab: The Animal Evolution Roguelite | $9.99 | 6,876 76% | 206k | $2.1M (exactly $2,060,737) | Odd Dreams Digital | |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof season2 | $22.99 | 2,149 96% | 64k | $1.5M (exactly $1,482,165) | Storytaco | |
 | Primordialis | · EA | $19.99 | 974 93% | 29k | $584k (exactly $584,108) | Kyler Natividad, Keith Sammut |
 | Astro Prospector | $4.99 | 3,223 91% | 97k | $482k (exactly $482,483) | Incrementalist | |
 | Fell & Sell | $9.99 | 1,428 84% | 43k | $428k (exactly $427,972) | Art Games Studio S.A. | |
 | Dinotica | $17.99 | 746 86% | 22k | $403k (exactly $402,616) | XA Studio | |
 | Granvir | $14.99 | 842 90% | 25k | $379k (exactly $378,647) | Airborne Games | |
 | Zombie Graveyard Simulator | $14.99 | 805 89% | 24k | $362k (exactly $362,008) | threeW | |
 | Million Depth | $16.99 | 673 93% | 20k | $343k (exactly $343,028) | Cyber Space Biotope |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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