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Should I ship a Perma Death Auto Battler?
Auto Battler + Perma Death
Of 47 developers who shipped a Perma Death Auto Battler 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.. 80 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.7k, ×3.5 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×290 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 80 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $839 (exactly $839) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) |
| Top 25% | $9.7k (exactly $9,712) |
| Top 5% | $138k (exactly $137,515) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 47 |
| Released games | 92 |
| Announced | 80 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 down 50% on the market, supply 95% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Auto Battler
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Perma Death
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Auto Battler, Perma Death; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Strategy, Roguelite
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.49 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.49 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 4,670 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $840. 9 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 80 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Auto Battler with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Action RTSFair
- + SimulationFair
- + EconomyFair
- + SandboxFair
- + CyberpunkFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + CatsFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + SwordplayFair
Comparable games
Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot 2026 · $1.2M 
Path of Achra 2024 · $949k 
Heretic's Fork 2023 · $928k 
Dungeon 100 2023 · $562k 
The Dungeon Beneath 2020 · $337k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot | $14.99 | 2,588 82% | 78k | $1.2M (exactly $1,163,824) | Hamma Studios | |
| | Path of Achra | older | $9.99 | 3,166 98% | 95k | $949k (exactly $948,850) | Ulfsire |
| | Heretic's Fork | older | $9.99 | 3,097 85% | 93k | $928k (exactly $928,171) | 9FingerGames |
| | Dungeon 100 | older | $11.99 | 1,562 81% | 47k | $562k (exactly $561,851) | 可布和常常诶 |
| | The Dungeon Beneath | older | $14.99 | 749 88% | 22k | $337k (exactly $336,825) | Puzzle Box Games |
 | Xenopurge | $12.49 | 419 84% | 13k | $157k (exactly $156,999) | Traptics | |
 | Hive Blight | · EA | $12.49 | 367 94% | 11k | $138k (exactly $137,515) | OptizOnion |
 | Spin Hero | $7.99 | 573 73% | 17k | $137k (exactly $137,348) | Sphere Studios | |
 | Mage and Monsters | older | $4.99 | 903 89% | 27k | $135k (exactly $135,179) | Lasse Zacho Malver |
 | Infinite Tao | older | $3.99 | 852 79% | 26k | $102k (exactly $101,984) | insomnia |
 | Mage and Monsters II | $8.99 | 372 82% | 11k | $100k (exactly $100,328) | Lasse Zacho Malver | |
 | ploink | $12.99 | 91 96% | 2.7k | $35k (exactly $35,463) | Pyrocreep | |
 | Maze Keeper | $8.99 | 84 47% | 2.5k | $23k (exactly $22,655) | Spaceward Games | |
 | Vault of Power | $11.99 | 50 62% | 1.5k | $18k (exactly $17,985) | Jim Games | |
 | Primarch | · EA | $11.99 | 40 85% | 1.2k | $14k (exactly $14,388) | Dale Turner |
 | Doomfields | $4.99 | 86 82% | 2.6k | $13k (exactly $12,874) | KJGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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