Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Artificial Intelligence
Should I ship an AI Souls-like?
Souls-like + Artificial Intelligence
Only 13 developers shipped an AI Souls-like 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, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 17 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $22k, ×14 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $300. Revenue is up 22805% on the market; 17 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $22k (exactly $21,586) |
| Top 25% | $839k (exactly $839,233) |
| Top 5% | $272M (exactly $272,446,000) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 35 |
| Announced | 17 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 up 22805% on the market, supply 125% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Souls-like
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Artificial Intelligence
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Adventure
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $69.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Story Rich, Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $69.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 332,780 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 17 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Souls-like with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimStrong odds
- + Visual NovelFair
- + JRPGFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + WarPoor odds
- + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | $49.99 | 181,667 95% | 5.5M | $272M (exactly $272,446,000) | Sandfall Interactive | |
| | Crimson Desert Enhanced | $69.99 | 115,056 83% | 3.5M | $242M (exactly $241,583,083) | Pearl Abyss | |
| | PRAGMATA | $59.99 | 32,885 96% | 987k | $59M (exactly $59,183,134) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
| | Morbid Metal | · EA | $17.99 | 1,555 81% | 47k | $839k (exactly $839,233) | SCREEN JUICE |
| | Escape from Yandere | $4.99 | 1,335 75% | 40k | $200k (exactly $199,850) | VorhGames | |
| | Dark Dominion | $14.99 | 170 72% | 5.1k | $76k (exactly $76,449) | ZERO5GAMES | |
| | Dark Farts: Parody Smell Edition | $14.99 | 48 81% | 1.4k | $22k (exactly $21,586) | Violarte | |
| | Silan: Monster Girl Master! | $8.99 | 60 95% | 1.8k | $16k (exactly $16,182) | 愛の勇者 | |
| | История бомжа | older | $4.99 | 52 67% | 1.6k | $7.8k (exactly $7,784) | Quarlellle |
| | Super Robolom | older | $24.99 | 8 75% | 240 | $6.0k (exactly $5,998) | Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich |
| | Resonant Blade | $9.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $599 (exactly $599) | Wise Wombat Games | |
| | Aeonic | $4.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | dev |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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