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Should I ship an Archery Hack and Slash game?
Hack and Slash + Archery
Only 18 developers shipped an Archery Hack and Slash game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Grimlord, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 42 more are announced, ×4.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.1k, ×6.5 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $750; 1 in 20 cleared $830k, ×1328 the market median. Revenue is up 105% on the market; 42 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $750 (exactly $750) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.1k (exactly $4,075) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $16,484) |
| Top 5% | $834k (exactly $834,022) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 63 |
| Announced | 42 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 105% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 22%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Hack and Slash
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Archery
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Hack and Slash, Archery; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, RPG, Adventure
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 3,088 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $750. 7 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 42 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Hack and Slash with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Turn-BasedStrong odds
- + Turn-Based CombatStrong odds
- + VampiresFair
- + ModernFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + RomancePoor odds
- + Visual NovelPoor odds
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + DestructionPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
Karnage Chronicles 2020 · $892k 
Grimlord 2024 · $834k 
Shady Knight 2024 · $539k 
Zad Archery 2026 · $168k 
RFVR 2022 · EA · $44k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Karnage Chronicles | older | $24.99 | 1,190 85% | 36k | $892k (exactly $892,143) | Nordic Trolls |
| | Grimlord | $29.99 | 927 78% | 28k | $834k (exactly $834,022) | Metalcat Interactive Co.,Ltd | |
| | Shady Knight | $19.99 | 898 93% | 27k | $539k (exactly $538,531) | Alexey 'cptnsigh' | |
| | Zad Archery | $6.99 | 803 73% | 24k | $168k (exactly $168,389) | Samharia Studios | |
| | RFVR | · EA older | $29.99 | 49 81% | 1.5k | $44k (exactly $44,085) | OMFGames |
 | Nasty Rogue | older | $10.99 | 102 76% | 3.1k | $34k (exactly $33,629) | Voxelblade Studio |
 | Caesar's Revenge | older | $13.50 | 82 85% | 2.5k | $33k (exactly $33,210) | Pixel Barons |
 | Psionic Sentry : Infinite | · EA | $4.99 | 215 83% | 6.5k | $32k (exactly $32,186) | Roy, 響雨互動娛樂, HowlingRain |
 | Presentiment of Death | older | $14.99 | 45 71% | 1.4k | $20k (exactly $20,236) | XOCUS |
 | Phoenix's Faye | $9.99 | 55 76% | 1.7k | $16k (exactly $16,484) | BigFireball | |
 | Mythrealm | · EA | $14.99 | 33 87% | 990 | $15k (exactly $14,840) | Delta Video Games |
 | Swamp Keeper | $3.99 | 82 96% | 2.5k | $9.8k (exactly $9,815) | Maetdol Games | |
 | 传说之始 | $3.99 | 46 71% | 1.4k | $5.5k (exactly $5,506) | 水月suigetsu | |
 | Heart of Eternity | $7.99 | 17 76% | 510 | $4.1k (exactly $4,075) | Ukrainian Development Company | |
 | Smerch Battle Arena | · EA | $9.99 | 12 91% | 360 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Smerch Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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