Should I ship an Archery RPG?
RPG + Archery
Of 28 developers who shipped an Archery 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.. 96 more are announced, ×8.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×3.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $360k, ×581 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 96 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $450 (exactly $450) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) |
| Top 25% | $49k (exactly $49,151) |
| Top 5% | $365k (exactly $365,104) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 28 |
| Released games | 107 |
| Announced | 96 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 90% on the market, supply 25% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- RPG, Archery; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Exploration, Open World
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Realistic, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 3,349 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 6 in 10 of the 18 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 96 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×8.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + IdlerFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + SportsFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + SamuraiPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
- + MinigamesPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition | older | $49.99 | 95,804 87% | 2.9M | $144M (exactly $143,677,259) | Guerrilla |
| | Swords & Souls: Neverseen | older | $14.99 | 6,077 93% | 182k | $2.7M (exactly $2,732,827) | SoulGame Studio |
| | Robin Hood - Sherwood Builders | older | $29.99 | 1,020 68% | 31k | $918k (exactly $917,694) | MeanAstronauts |
| | 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 | |
| | Unbridled: That Horse Game | · EA | $24.99 | 487 85% | 15k | $365k (exactly $365,104) | Mind Evotion Games |
| | QuiVr | older | $19.99 | 482 88% | 14k | $289k (exactly $289,055) | Blueteak |
| | The Axis Unseen | $24.99 | 309 75% | 9.3k | $232k (exactly $231,657) | Just Purkey Games | |
| | The Vale: Shadow of the Crown | older | $19.99 | 326 97% | 9.8k | $196k (exactly $195,502) | Falling Squirrel, Creative Bytes Studios |
| | Zad Archery | $6.99 | 803 73% | 24k | $168k (exactly $168,389) | Samharia Studios | |
| | Swords & Souls Legacy Collection | $9.99 | 337 94% | 10k | $101k (exactly $100,999) | SoulGame Studio | |
| | The Last King | · EA | $14.99 | 122 79% | 3.7k | $55k (exactly $54,863) | Mayawi software |
| | DragonRoad | $19.98 | 82 91% | 2.5k | $49k (exactly $49,151) | XuJie | |
| | Psionic Sentry : Infinite | · EA | $4.99 | 215 83% | 6.5k | $32k (exactly $32,186) | Roy, 響雨互動娛樂, HowlingRain |
| | Tales from The Dancing Moon | $17.99 | 34 88% | 1.0k | $18k (exactly $18,350) | DjMonkey | |
| | Mythrealm | · EA | $14.99 | 33 87% | 990 | $15k (exactly $14,840) | Delta Video Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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