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Should I ship a Puzzle Auto Battler?
Auto Battler + Puzzle
Of 30 developers who shipped a Puzzle 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.. 40 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.5 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $700k, ×1478 the market median. Revenue is up 195% on the market; 40 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $5.0k (exactly $5,033) |
| Top 5% | $702k (exactly $701,842) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 30 |
| Released games | 66 |
| Announced | 40 |
| 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 195% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Puzzle
- effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Auto Battler, Puzzle; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Combat, Roguelike
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 5,782 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. All of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 40 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ShapeHero Factory | $23.99 | 991 88% | 30k | $713k (exactly $713,223) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
| | Horripilant | $7.99 | 2,928 92% | 88k | $702k (exactly $701,842) | Alexandre Declos , Pas Game Studio | |
| | DemonCrawl | older | $14.99 | 1,230 76% | 37k | $553k (exactly $553,131) | Therefore Games |
| | Titanium Court | $14.99 | 1,094 94% | 33k | $492k (exactly $491,972) | AP Thomson | |
| | Turnbound | $14.99 | 446 78% | 13k | $201k (exactly $200,566) | 1TK | |
| | Crop Rotation | older | $9.99 | 508 94% | 15k | $152k (exactly $152,248) | Sprouting Potato |
| | A Tiny Sticker Tale | older | $9.99 | 471 97% | 14k | $141k (exactly $141,159) | Ogre Pixel |
| | Candy Disaster - Tower Defense | older | $13.99 | 250 81% | 7.5k | $105k (exactly $104,925) | ACE Entertainment |
| | SkyShard: City Battler | · EA | $14.99 | 106 97% | 3.2k | $48k (exactly $47,668) | ItsBen321 |
| | Merge & Blade | older | $9.99 | 121 76% | 3.6k | $36k (exactly $36,264) | Magic Cube |
| | Zero Orders Tactics | $11.99 | 89 91% | 2.7k | $32k (exactly $32,013) | Pauloondra | |
| | Dungeon Dev | $3.99 | 63 85% | 1.9k | $7.5k (exactly $7,541) | Team ETTU | |
| | Blades, Bows and Magic | $6.99 | 24 91% | 720 | $5.0k (exactly $5,033) | Funk Games | |
| | Dungeon Destroyer | $4.99 | 28 100% | 840 | $4.2k (exactly $4,192) | 作っちゃうおじさん/TUKUCHAU-OJISAN | |
| | Wizard Tournament | $6.99 | 13 76% | 390 | $2.7k (exactly $2,726) | Rachop Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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