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Should I ship an Auto Battler Roguelike?
Auto Battler + Roguelike
Of 337 developers who shipped an Auto Battler Roguelike 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.. 525 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×5.7 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $310k, ×661 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 525 games are announced against 217 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $628 (exactly $628) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) |
| Top 25% | $28k (exactly $27,572) |
| Top 5% | $314k (exactly $313,891) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 337 |
| Released games | 550 |
| Announced | 525 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 65% on the market, supply 75% 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
- Roguelike
- 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, Roguelike; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelite, Deckbuilding
- Price point
- $6.99 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 $6.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 51,347 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 7 in 10 of the 140 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 525 games are announced against 217 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Backpack Battles | $14.99 | 18,933 91% | 568k | $8.5M (exactly $8,514,170) | PlayWithFurcifer | |
| | Bad North: Jotunn Edition | older | $14.99 | 12,344 93% | 370k | $5.6M (exactly $5,551,097) | Plausible Concept, Oskar Stålberg |
| | The King is Watching | $14.99 | 9,006 88% | 270k | $4.0M (exactly $4,049,998) | Hypnohead | |
| | Super Fantasy Kingdom | · EA | $19.99 | 5,630 86% | 169k | $3.4M (exactly $3,376,311) | Super Fantasy Games |
| | Luck be a Landlord | older | $9.99 | 10,213 93% | 306k | $3.1M (exactly $3,060,836) | TrampolineTales |
| | Tower Dominion | $17.49 | 5,117 85% | 154k | $2.7M (exactly $2,684,890) | Parallel 45 Games | |
| | Meme Mayhem | older | $16.99 | 4,849 74% | 145k | $2.5M (exactly $2,471,535) | Cr3 Studio |
| | Despot's Game: Dystopian Battle Simulator | older | $19.99 | 2,878 83% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,725,937) | Konfa Games |
| | The Last Flame | $19.99 | 2,744 85% | 82k | $1.6M (exactly $1,645,577) | Hotloop | |
| | Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot | $14.99 | 2,588 82% | 78k | $1.2M (exactly $1,163,824) | Hamma Studios | |
| | Commander Quest | $11.99 | 2,804 74% | 84k | $1.0M (exactly $1,008,599) | Flyway Games, Inc. | |
| | Ballionaire | $12.34 | 2,398 85% | 72k | $888k (exactly $887,740) | newobject | |
| | ShapeHero Factory | $23.99 | 991 88% | 30k | $713k (exactly $713,223) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
| | Knightica | $14.99 | 1,136 74% | 34k | $511k (exactly $510,859) | Mad Mango Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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