Games › Building › Building + Roguelike
Should I ship a Building Roguelike?
Building + Roguelike
Of 164 developers who shipped a Building 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.. 287 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.1k, ×6.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $580k, ×930 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 287 games are announced against 93 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $718 (exactly $718) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.1k (exactly $4,133) |
| Top 25% | $41k (exactly $41,059) |
| Top 5% | $584k (exactly $584,108) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 164 |
| Released games | 323 |
| Announced | 287 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building, Roguelike; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelite, Base Building
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 76% positive over 99,285 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 7 in 10 of the 74 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 287 games are announced against 93 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + CatsFair
- + TabletopFair
- + Grid-Based MovementFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + Vehicular CombatPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + CrimePoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
Comparable games
The Scroll of Taiwu : Beyond The Dome 2026 · $51M 
Dwarf Fortress 2022 · $26M 
BALL x PIT 2025 · $11M 
PlateUp! 2022 · $11M 
Mini Motorways 2021 · $7.1M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Scroll of Taiwu : Beyond The Dome | $29.99 | 56,535 65% | 1.7M | $51M (exactly $50,864,540) | ConchShip Games | |
| | Dwarf Fortress | older | $29.99 | 29,303 94% | 879k | $26M (exactly $26,363,909) | Bay 12 Games |
| | BALL x PIT | $14.99 | 24,714 95% | 741k | $11M (exactly $11,113,886) | Kenny Sun and Friends | |
| | PlateUp! | older | $19.99 | 18,500 94% | 555k | $11M (exactly $11,094,450) | It's happening |
| | Mini Motorways | older | $9.99 | 23,561 96% | 707k | $7.1M (exactly $7,061,232) | Dinosaur Polo Club |
 | Kingdom: New Lands | older | $14.99 | 10,152 86% | 305k | $4.6M (exactly $4,565,354) | Noio |
 | Backpack Hero | older | $19.99 | 7,423 85% | 223k | $4.5M (exactly $4,451,573) | Jaspel |
 | Tower Dominion | $17.49 | 5,117 85% | 154k | $2.7M (exactly $2,684,890) | Parallel 45 Games | |
 | Rogue Tower | older | $14.99 | 5,772 82% | 173k | $2.6M (exactly $2,595,668) | Die of Death Games |
 | Emberward | $19.99 | 3,775 96% | 113k | $2.3M (exactly $2,263,868) | Refic Games | |
 | Ostranauts | $19.99 | 3,137 77% | 94k | $1.9M (exactly $1,881,259) | Blue Bottle Games | |
 | Drill Core | $19.99 | 2,130 84% | 64k | $1.3M (exactly $1,277,361) | Hungry Couch Games | |
 | Deck of Haunts | $19.99 | 1,206 84% | 36k | $723k (exactly $723,238) | Mantis | |
 | ShapeHero Factory | $23.99 | 991 88% | 30k | $713k (exactly $713,223) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
 | Primordialis | · EA | $19.99 | 974 93% | 29k | $584k (exactly $584,108) | Kyler Natividad, Keith Sammut |
 | Axon TD: Uprising - Tower Defense | $19.99 | 706 85% | 21k | $423k (exactly $423,388) | Element Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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