Games › Arcade › Arcade + Mystery Dungeon
Should I ship a Mystery Dungeon Arcade game?
Arcade + Mystery Dungeon
Of 35 developers who shipped a Mystery Dungeon 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.. 31 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 3 / 10 build. 16 developers shipped in the last year and 31 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 25% | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) |
| Top 5% | $422k (exactly $422,045) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 35 |
| Released games | 134 |
| Announced | 31 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Arcade
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Mystery Dungeon
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Arcade, Mystery Dungeon; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Dungeon Crawler, Roguelike, Action
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 2,924 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. All of the 23 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 31 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Arcade with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + TrainsFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + MiningFair
- + FaithFair
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + EconomyFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + DeckbuildingFair
- + Card BattlerFair
- + LootFair
- + VampiresFair
Comparable games
Goblin Cleanup 2025 · EA · $969k 
Skull Horde 2026 · $422k 
Strikey Sisters 2017 · $235k 
Spooky Station 2019 · $52k 
Bobo's Big Tower 2026 · $28k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Goblin Cleanup | · EA | $19.99 | 1,615 87% | 48k | $969k (exactly $968,515) | Crisalu Games |
| | Skull Horde | $12.99 | 1,083 81% | 32k | $422k (exactly $422,045) | 8BitSkull | |
| | Strikey Sisters | older | $9.99 | 785 90% | 24k | $235k (exactly $235,264) | DYA Games |
| | Spooky Station | older | $4.99 | 345 88% | 10k | $52k (exactly $51,646) | Coletivo Vaca Roxa, Vee, JoyMasher, PKO… (Coletivo Vaca Roxa, Vee, JoyMasher, PKO Game Studio, Spookids Team, Calangames, Expresso Studios, Pastel Studios, Heavy Sheep, LASTONE, Asteristic Game Studio) |
| | Bobo's Big Tower | $9.99 | 93 92% | 2.8k | $28k (exactly $27,872) | SillyKitty | |
 | Barbearian | older | $12.99 | 66 74% | 2.0k | $26k (exactly $25,720) | Kimmo Lahtinen |
 | DOOMER'S ADVENTURE | older | $9.99 | 64 85% | 1.9k | $19k (exactly $19,181) | deadworld games |
 | JustAxe | older | $10.99 | 53 73% | 1.6k | $17k (exactly $17,474) | Supergalactiс Gamedev |
 | No Parachute | older | $4.99 | 116 89% | 3.5k | $17k (exactly $17,365) | Wherry |
 | Dreamstones | older | $11.99 | 45 91% | 1.4k | $16k (exactly $16,186) | Windybeard |
 | Heroes Against Time | $7.49 | 53 94% | 1.6k | $12k (exactly $11,909) | David Vinokurov | |
 | Nightfall Empress | $14.99 | 19 84% | 570 | $8.5k (exactly $8,544) | SEEP | |
 | Collateral Dungeon | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | Techosaurus Studios | |
 | DOWNMOUSE | $3.99 | 25 92% | 750 | $3.0k (exactly $2,992) | WobblyHandStudio | |
 | Elf Adventure: The Lost Castle | $6.99 | 14 28% | 420 | $2.9k (exactly $2,936) | 430Games | |
 | 1 HP DUNGEON | $4.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) | mauneven | |
 | Quiz Kingdom: Elementary Math Kids RPG | $17.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $1.1k (exactly $1,079) | DIG Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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