Games › Action RPG › Action RPG + Stealth
Should I ship a Stealth Action RPG?
Action RPG + Stealth
Of 55 developers who shipped a Stealth Action RPG 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.. 186 more are announced, ×6.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×0.9 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $6.7M, ×4531 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 186 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,317) |
| Top 25% | $78k (exactly $78,049) |
| Top 5% | $6.8M (exactly $6,787,642) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 55 |
| Released games | 201 |
| Announced | 186 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 85% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Action RPG
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Stealth
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Action RPG, Stealth; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Exploration, RPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 58,379 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 6 in 10 of the 29 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 186 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year, ×6.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + NavalFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + WesternFair
- + Local MultiplayerFair
- + Walking SimulatorLong shot
- + WuxiaPoor odds
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + MechsPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Bullet HeavenPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dying Light | older | $24.99 | 373,413 95% | 11M | $280M (exactly $279,947,726) | Techland |
| | Assassin's Creed® Origins | older | $59.99 | 119,764 85% | 3.6M | $216M (exactly $215,539,271) | Ubisoft Montreal |
| | Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition | older | $49.99 | 95,804 87% | 2.9M | $144M (exactly $143,677,259) | Guerrilla |
| | Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ | older | $49.99 | 87,777 88% | 2.6M | $132M (exactly $131,639,167) | Monolith Productions |
| | 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) |
| | Kenshi | older | $29.99 | 98,451 95% | 3.0M | $89M (exactly $88,576,365) | Lo-Fi Games |
| | Assassin's Creed® Unity | older | $29.99 | 79,116 77% | 2.4M | $71M (exactly $71,180,665) | Ubisoft |
| | Far Cry® 4 | older | $29.99 | 68,485 84% | 2.1M | $62M (exactly $61,615,954) | Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Shanghai,… (Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Shanghai, Toronto, Kiev) |
| | Far Cry® New Dawn | older | $39.99 | 32,169 75% | 965k | $39M (exactly $38,593,149) | Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Kiev, Ubisoft… (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Kiev, Ubisoft Shanghai) |
| | Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ | older | $19.99 | 63,815 92% | 1.9M | $38M (exactly $38,269,856) | Monolith Productions |
| | Assassin's Creed Mirage | $49.99 | 11,612 76% | 348k | $17M (exactly $17,414,516) | Ubisoft Bordeaux | |
| | Shadows of Doubt | $24.99 | 14,646 82% | 439k | $11M (exactly $10,980,106) | ColePowered Games | |
| | Atomfall | $49.99 | 4,526 76% | 136k | $6.8M (exactly $6,787,642) | Rebellion | |
| | The Killing Antidote | · EA | $29.99 | 7,512 88% | 225k | $6.8M (exactly $6,758,546) | MetalStar Studio |
| | Fatekeeper | · EA | $9.99 | 10,605 80% | 318k | $3.2M (exactly $3,178,318) | Paraglacial |
| | Peripeteia | · EA | $24.99 | 3,120 86% | 94k | $2.3M (exactly $2,339,064) | Ninth Exodus |
| | METAL GEAR SOLID 4: Guns of the Patriots - Master Collection Version | $29.99 | 2,315 96% | 69k | $2.1M (exactly $2,082,806) | KONAMI | |
| | 近畿霊務局 - Kinki Spiritual Affairs Bureau | $9.99 | 2,780 92% | 83k | $833k (exactly $833,166) | Noto Muteki | |
| | Project Werewulf | $29.99 | 778 83% | 23k | $700k (exactly $699,967) | FTRGameStudio | |
| | Kristala | $39.99 | 485 71% | 15k | $582k (exactly $581,854) | Astral Clocktower Studios |
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.