Do I ship it?

Games › Loot › Loot + Arcade

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Loot Arcade game?

Loot + Arcade

Of 147 developers who shipped a Loot Arcade 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.. 215 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×3.0 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $450. Revenue is up 180% on the market; 215 games are announced against 108 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 180% on the market, 215 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Loot + Arcade
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 147
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.0k → $2.2k → $1.2k → $899 → $599 → $2.5k → $2.7k (still earning) → $2.9k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Loot + Arcade: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 147
Bottom 30% $449 (exactly $449)
Median $1.9k (exactly $1,915)
Top 25% $10k (exactly $10,423)
Top 5% $379k (exactly $379,155)
Developers, 2 yr 147
Released games 323
Announced 215
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 up 180% on the market, supply 155% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, 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.

Loot
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
Loot, Arcade; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelite, Action Roguelike
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 120,903 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $450, median $1.9k, 1 in 4 over $10k, 1 in 20 over $370k.

3 in 10 developers made under $450. 9 in 10 of the 55 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 215 games are announced against 108 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds28 devs · median $19k · 22 announced
  2. + Local Co-OpStrong odds22 devs · median $7.3k · 21 announced
  3. + SteampunkStrong odds7 devs · median $2.2k · 10 announced
  4. + CapitalismFair36 devs · median $14k · 52 announced
  5. + Turn-Based StrategyFair86 devs · median $6.3k · 97 announced
  6. + JRPGFair34 devs · median $5.5k · 41 announced
  7. + EconomyFair74 devs · median $4.6k · 114 announced
  8. + IdlerFair181 devs · median $4.5k · 256 announced
  9. + CatsFair17 devs · median $3.4k · 24 announced
  10. + IncrementalFair145 devs · median $2.9k · 236 announced
  11. + Creature CollectorFair51 devs · median $2.9k · 67 announced
  12. + CollectathonFair90 devs · median $1.9k · 95 announced

All 159 pairs on the Loot page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Megabonk 2025 · $30M Risk of Rain Returns 2023 · $11M Minecraft Dungeons 2021 · $11M DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS 2022 · $4.5M Ziggurat 2014 · $1.3M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Megabonk $9.99 100,202 94% 3.0M $30M (exactly $30,030,539) vedinad
Risk of Rain Returns older $14.99 24,795 89% 744k $11M (exactly $11,150,312) Hopoo Games
Minecraft Dungeons older $19.99 17,941 90% 538k $11M (exactly $10,759,218) Mojang Studios, ‪Double Eleven
DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS older $29.99 4,983 50% 149k $4.5M (exactly $4,483,205) Dimps Corporation
Ziggurat older $14.99 2,835 86% 85k $1.3M (exactly $1,274,900) Milkstone Studios
Keep on Mining! $4.99 8,300 93% 249k $1.2M (exactly $1,242,510) EagleEye Games
R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program $14.99 2,727 76% 82k $1.2M (exactly $1,226,332) WarmCore Studio
Wild Woods · EA $14.99 1,746 78% 52k $785k (exactly $785,176) Octofox Games
Grind Survivors $12.99 1,332 69% 40k $519k (exactly $519,080) Pushka Studios
Reality Break $24.99 683 80% 20k $512k (exactly $512,045) Element Games, LLC
Skull Horde $12.99 1,083 81% 32k $422k (exactly $422,045) 8BitSkull
Keep on Mining! - Worlds $6.99 1,899 80% 57k $398k (exactly $398,220) EagleEye Games
Sineus Arena Survivors $10.99 1,150 77% 35k $379k (exactly $379,155) Sineus Games
This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker $5.99 1,781 86% 53k $320k (exactly $320,046) Mash

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