Games › Action Roguelike › Action Roguelike + Space
Should I ship a Space Action Roguelike?
Action Roguelike + Space
Of 249 developers who shipped a Space Action Roguelike 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.. 388 more are announced, ×2.7 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 $150; 1 in 20 cleared $80k, ×129 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 388 games are announced against 144 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) |
| Top 5% | $81k (exactly $80,838) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 249 |
| Released games | 526 |
| Announced | 388 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 up 10% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Action Roguelike
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Space
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Action Roguelike; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelite, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 54,308 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 120 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 388 games are announced against 144 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action Roguelike with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RomanceStrong odds
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + SportsFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + VampiresFair
- + IdlerFair
- + DogsFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + FaithFair
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + MechsPoor odds
Comparable games
Deep Rock Galactic 2020 · $273M 
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor 2025 · $18M 
Returnal™ 2023 · $12M 
Risk of Rain Returns 2023 · $11M 
Nova Drift 2024 · $7.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Deep Rock Galactic | older | $29.99 | 303,142 97% | 9.1M | $273M (exactly $272,736,857) | Ghost Ship Games |
| | Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor | $12.99 | 46,354 86% | 1.4M | $18M (exactly $18,064,154) | Funday Games | |
| | Returnal™ | older | $59.99 | 6,602 79% | 198k | $12M (exactly $11,881,619) | Housemarque, Climax Studios |
| | Risk of Rain Returns | older | $14.99 | 24,795 89% | 744k | $11M (exactly $11,150,312) | Hopoo Games |
| | Nova Drift | older | $17.99 | 12,975 95% | 389k | $7.0M (exactly $7,002,607) | Chimeric |
 | EVERSPACE™ | older | $19.99 | 9,809 77% | 294k | $5.9M (exactly $5,882,457) | ROCKFISH Games |
 | Void Bastards | older | $29.99 | 3,888 86% | 117k | $3.5M (exactly $3,498,034) | Blue Manchu |
 | Heat Signature | older | $14.99 | 6,849 94% | 205k | $3.1M (exactly $3,079,995) | Suspicious Developments |
 | Shortest Trip to Earth | older | $25.99 | 1,257 76% | 38k | $980k (exactly $980,083) | Interactive Fate |
 | Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition | older | $19.99 | 1,566 73% | 47k | $939k (exactly $939,130) | Radiation Blue |
 | TurretGirls | $9.99 | 1,882 85% | 56k | $564k (exactly $564,035) | NANAIRO ENTERPRISE | |
 | Reality Break | $24.99 | 683 80% | 20k | $512k (exactly $512,045) | Element Games, LLC | |
 | Rocket Rats | $5.99 | 2,388 94% | 72k | $429k (exactly $429,124) | Gagonfe | |
 | Galactic Glitch | $12.99 | 920 89% | 28k | $359k (exactly $358,524) | Crunchy Leaf Games | |
 | Whisker Squadron: Survivor | $19.99 | 485 77% | 15k | $291k (exactly $290,854) | Flippfly LLC | |
 | Enter the Chronosphere | · EA | $14.99 | 420 94% | 13k | $189k (exactly $188,874) | Effort Star |
 | Entropy Survivors | $9.99 | 487 80% | 15k | $146k (exactly $145,954) | Moving Pieces Interactive | |
 | SHOOPER NOVA | $6.99 | 545 83% | 16k | $114k (exactly $114,286) | Jamesika | |
 | Touhou Lensed Night Sky, Kaseigai | $22.00 | 144 95% | 4.3k | $95k (exactly $95,040) | Fire Land |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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