Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Beat 'em up
Should I ship a Beat 'em up Souls-like?
Souls-like + Beat 'em up
Of 36 developers who shipped a Beat 'em up Souls-like 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.. 55 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×1.2 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $210k, ×144 the market median. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 55 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,799) |
| Top 25% | $6.4k (exactly $6,369) |
| Top 5% | $215k (exactly $215,484) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 36 |
| Released games | 121 |
| Announced | 55 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 up 80% on the market, supply 25% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Beat 'em up
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like, Beat 'em up; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Hack and Slash
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, 2D, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 14,372 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 25 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 55 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Souls-like with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimStrong odds
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + WarPoor odds
- + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
Comparable games
Sifu 2023 · $26M 
Another Crab's Treasure 2024 · $15M 
Dead as Disco 2026 · EA · $9.3M 
En Garde! 2023 · $2.5M 
SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal 2019 · $2.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sifu | older | $39.99 | 21,620 92% | 649k | $26M (exactly $25,937,514) | Sloclap |
| | Another Crab's Treasure | older | $29.99 | 16,863 93% | 506k | $15M (exactly $15,171,641) | Aggro Crab |
| | Dead as Disco | · EA | $24.99 | 12,354 96% | 371k | $9.3M (exactly $9,261,794) | Brain Jar Games, Inc. |
| | En Garde! | older | $19.99 | 4,161 90% | 125k | $2.5M (exactly $2,495,352) | Fireplace Games |
| | SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal | older | $29.99 | 2,433 92% | 73k | $2.2M (exactly $2,188,970) | Tamsoft |
 | Going Under | older | $19.99 | 2,702 92% | 81k | $1.6M (exactly $1,620,389) | Aggro Crab |
 | Clash: Artifacts of Chaos | older | $29.99 | 1,353 90% | 41k | $1.2M (exactly $1,217,294) | ACE Team |
 | FIGHT KNIGHT | older | $19.99 | 1,547 91% | 46k | $928k (exactly $927,736) | Team Sorcerobe |
 | Trinity Fusion | older | $19.99 | 688 85% | 21k | $413k (exactly $412,594) | Angry Mob Games |
 | Young Souls | older | $24.99 | 494 84% | 15k | $370k (exactly $370,352) | 1P2P |
 | The Bleakest Keep | $9.99 | 719 90% | 22k | $215k (exactly $215,484) | Cache of Bones | |
 | Halluci-Sabbat of Koishi | $7.99 | 701 91% | 21k | $168k (exactly $168,030) | ZRIGN 地霊研究院 | |
 | Magenta Horizon - Neverending Harvest | $10.99 | 175 89% | 5.3k | $58k (exactly $57,698) | Maddison Baek | |
 | Men against Lizards | $9.99 | 152 93% | 4.6k | $46k (exactly $45,554) | VICTORIA Games | |
 | Cat Gladiator | $8.99 | 69 86% | 2.1k | $19k (exactly $18,609) | Funleeks Studio | |
 | Obey the Insect God | $19.99 | 23 100% | 690 | $14k (exactly $13,793) | Chunkle Freaky's Movies Games, Charles… (Chunkle Freaky's Movies Games, Charles Davis) | |
 | Great Tough Bikini 6 | $2.99 | 74 70% | 2.2k | $6.6k (exactly $6,638) | nStarcube | |
 | DEAD DAYLIGHT | $2.99 | 71 88% | 2.1k | $6.4k (exactly $6,369) | KARMIU | |
 | Quantum Beast | $5.99 | 34 100% | 1.0k | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) | RaidenV_00 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.