Do I ship it?

Games › Creature Collector › Creature Collector + Arcade

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Arcade Creature Collector?

Creature Collector + Arcade

Of 73 developers who shipped an Arcade Creature Collector 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.. 85 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $630, level with the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $270. Revenue is up 260% on the market; 85 games are announced against 48 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 260% on the market, 85 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Creature Collector + Arcade
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 73
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $359 → $5.2k → $449 → $719 → $629 → $1.2k (still earning) → $359 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Creature Collector + Arcade: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 73
Bottom 30% $269 (exactly $269)
Median $629 (exactly $629)
Top 25% $2.9k (exactly $2,875)
Top 5% $49k (exactly $48,551)
Developers, 2 yr 73
Released games 170
Announced 85
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 260% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Creature Collector
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Arcade
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Creature Collector, Arcade; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Puzzle, Exploration
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $10.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, 2D, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $10.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 81% positive over 3,683 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $270, median $630, 1 in 4 over $2.8k, 1 in 20 over $48k.

3 in 10 developers made under $270. 9 in 10 of the 36 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 85 games are announced against 48 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Creature Collector with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Perma DeathFair30 devs · median $5.3k · 33 announced
  2. + Bullet HellFair24 devs · median $3.4k · 33 announced
  3. + CapitalismFair38 devs · median $3.2k · 38 announced
  4. + LootFair51 devs · median $2.9k · 67 announced
  5. + IdlerFair248 devs · median $2.1k · 260 announced
  6. + IncrementalFair177 devs · median $1.9k · 191 announced
  7. + Action RoguelikeFair39 devs · median $1.8k · 54 announced
  8. + SpaceFair30 devs · median $1.5k · 39 announced
  9. + ZombiesFair14 devs · median $1.5k · 10 announced
  10. + Co-opPoor odds31 devs · median $28k · 82 announced
  11. + Dating SimPoor odds14 devs · median $23k · 43 announced
  12. + MusicPoor odds12 devs · median $16k · 11 announced

All 133 pairs on the Creature Collector page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Nexomon: Extinction 2020 · $2.2M Temtem: Swarm 2026 · $969k Patch Quest 2023 · $925k PropHunter 2021 · EA · $110k Creatura 2021 · $96k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Nexomon: Extinction older $19.99 3,713 90% 111k $2.2M (exactly $2,226,686) VEWO Interactive Inc.
Temtem: Swarm $12.99 2,487 77% 75k $969k (exactly $969,184) Crema, GGTech Studios
Patch Quest older $14.99 2,058 94% 62k $925k (exactly $925,483) Lychee Game Labs
PropHunter · EA older $3.99 917 79% 28k $110k (exactly $109,765) Alone Fox Games
Creatura older $14.99 214 67% 6.4k $96k (exactly $96,236) Koksny.com
Fishing The Abyss $6.99 421 95% 13k $88k (exactly $88,284) umaaaaaa studio
Hole Dweller older $7.99 260 96% 7.8k $62k (exactly $62,322) Thigh High Games
Sculplings $10.99 179 99% 5.4k $59k (exactly $59,016) Conor Garity, Liam Kerrigan
Claw Machine Sim older $6.99 238 94% 7.1k $50k (exactly $49,909) Unechte Sachen
Flock of the Seraphim $9.99 162 85% 4.9k $49k (exactly $48,551) GuuchanDev
Idle Gumball Machine $4.99 255 90% 7.7k $38k (exactly $38,174) Antique Gear Games
Super Farming Boy · EA $12.99 42 85% 1.3k $16k (exactly $16,367) LemonChili Soft
DOLLMAKER $8.99 45 97% 1.4k $12k (exactly $12,136) STH
Neopets - Mega Mini Games Collection - The Neopian Arcade Odyssey $9.99 38 31% 1.1k $11k (exactly $11,389) No Gravity Games
Fantastic Findings Hidden Seasons $11.99 29 89% 870 $10k (exactly $10,431) Shapeshift Entertainment ApS
The PARADOGX Incident $10.99 25 92% 750 $8.2k (exactly $8,242) Artibex

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.