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Should I ship a Dark-Fantasy Base Building game?
Base Building + Dark Fantasy
Of 72 developers who shipped a Dark-Fantasy Base Building game 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.. 192 more are announced, ×4.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.8k, ×7.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.7M, ×2745 the market median. Revenue is up 55% on the market; 192 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.8k (exactly $4,795) |
| Top 25% | $154k (exactly $153,523) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,724,137) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 72 |
| Released games | 146 |
| Announced | 192 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 55% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Base Building
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Dark Fantasy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Base Building; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, RPG, Survival
- Price point
- $11.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 35,421 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 7 in 10 of the 27 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 192 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Base Building with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + UndergroundPoor odds
- + MarsPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
Comparable games
V Rising 2024 · $116M 
Dungeons 3 2017 · $11M 
ELEX 2017 · $11M 
The Last Spell 2023 · $9.9M 
King Arthur: Knight's Tale 2022 · $9.1M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | V Rising | older | $34.99 | 110,505 89% | 3.3M | $116M (exactly $115,997,098) | Stunlock Studios |
| | Dungeons 3 | older | $29.99 | 12,648 93% | 379k | $11M (exactly $11,379,406) | Realmforge Studios |
| | ELEX | older | $29.99 | 12,443 72% | 373k | $11M (exactly $11,194,967) | Piranha Bytes |
| | The Last Spell | older | $24.99 | 13,260 91% | 398k | $9.9M (exactly $9,941,022) | Ishtar Games |
| | King Arthur: Knight's Tale | older | $44.99 | 6,722 83% | 202k | $9.1M (exactly $9,072,683) | NeocoreGames |
 | Age of Darkness: Final Stand | $27.99 | 9,486 74% | 285k | $8.0M (exactly $7,965,394) | PlaySide | |
 | ASKA | · EA older | $24.99 | 10,457 79% | 314k | $7.8M (exactly $7,839,613) | Sand Sailor Studio |
 | Tainted Grail: Conquest | older | $19.99 | 7,589 90% | 228k | $4.6M (exactly $4,551,123) | Questline |
 | The King is Watching | $14.99 | 9,006 88% | 270k | $4.0M (exactly $4,049,998) | Hypnohead | |
 | Dungeon Alchemist | · EA older | $44.99 | 2,666 94% | 80k | $3.6M (exactly $3,598,300) | Briganti |
 | Cinderia | · EA | $17.99 | 4,763 88% | 143k | $2.6M (exactly $2,570,591) | MyACG Studio |
 | Nordhold | $19.99 | 2,875 87% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,724,137) | StunForge | |
 | Sir, We Have an Orc Problem | $9.99 | 4,123 86% | 124k | $1.2M (exactly $1,235,663) | Mumpitz Games | |
 | Worshippers of Cthulhu | $24.99 | 1,305 80% | 39k | $978k (exactly $978,358) | Crazy Goat Games | |
 | Dungeon Settlers | · EA | $24.99 | 1,117 79% | 34k | $837k (exactly $837,415) | CanOpener |
 | DarkSwitch | $34.99 | 714 77% | 21k | $749k (exactly $749,486) | Cyber Temple | |
 | Blackthorn Arena: Reforged | $24.99 | 882 66% | 26k | $661k (exactly $661,235) | PersonaeGame Studio | |
 | Sineus Arena Survivors | $10.99 | 1,150 77% | 35k | $379k (exactly $379,155) | Sineus Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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