Games › Exploration › Exploration + Card Battler
Should I ship an Exploration Card Battler?
Exploration + Card Battler
Of 66 developers who shipped an Exploration Card 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.. 132 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $8.1k, ×17 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $200k, ×429 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 132 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $836 (exactly $836) |
|---|---|
| Median | $8.1k (exactly $8,095) |
| Top 25% | $35k (exactly $35,065) |
| Top 5% | $204k (exactly $203,898) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 66 |
| Released games | 153 |
| Announced | 132 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 60% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Exploration
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Card Battler
- effort 3 / 10 · high · card rules plus simple encounter logic
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Exploration, Card Battler; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Card Game, Strategy, RPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Story Rich, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 4,910 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $840. 8 in 10 of the 35 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 132 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Exploration with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + SpaceshipsFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + WuxiaPoor odds
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Martial ArtsPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + FMVPoor odds
- + FarmingPoor odds
Comparable games
觅长生 2023 · $12M 
Vault of the Void 2022 · $1.4M 
Ooblets 2023 · $1.2M 
Last Evil 2020 · $1.1M 
Foretales 2022 · $467k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 觅长生 | older | $14.99 | 27,072 93% | 812k | $12M (exactly $12,174,278) | Chalcedony Network |
| | Vault of the Void | older | $17.99 | 2,529 92% | 76k | $1.4M (exactly $1,364,901) | Spider Nest Games |
| | Ooblets | older | $29.99 | 1,388 91% | 42k | $1.2M (exactly $1,248,784) | Glumberland |
| | Last Evil | older | $9.99 | 3,559 94% | 107k | $1.1M (exactly $1,066,632) | Flametorch |
| | Foretales | older | $19.99 | 779 87% | 23k | $467k (exactly $467,166) | Alkemi |
 | Stray Path | $14.99 | 918 73% | 28k | $413k (exactly $412,825) | zidong games | |
 | Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation The Endless Seven-Day Journey | older | $29.99 | 455 81% | 14k | $409k (exactly $409,364) | Neos Corporation |
 | The Knight Witch | older | $19.99 | 643 72% | 19k | $386k (exactly $385,607) | Super Mega Team |
 | Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster | older | $49.99 | 250 78% | 7.5k | $375k (exactly $374,925) | logicalbeat Co., Ltd. |
 | Mahokenshi - The Samurai Deckbuilder | older | $24.99 | 464 77% | 14k | $348k (exactly $347,861) | Game Source Studio |
 | Card Cultivation | $14.99 | 694 70% | 21k | $312k (exactly $312,092) | DarkIndex | |
 | Villages & Dungeons | $6.99 | 1,036 91% | 31k | $217k (exactly $217,249) | CaCaFrog Studio | |
 | Shambles: Sons of Apocalypse | $19.99 | 340 77% | 10k | $204k (exactly $203,898) | EXLIX | |
 | Shards of Order | $9.99 | 578 90% | 17k | $173k (exactly $173,227) | Fardust | |
 | Rogue Hex | $19.99 | 260 89% | 7.8k | $156k (exactly $155,922) | Topstitch Games | |
 | Stackmon | $13.99 | 364 75% | 11k | $153k (exactly $152,771) | Riftpoint Entertainment | |
 | Stack to Ascension | $12.99 | 331 54% | 9.9k | $129k (exactly $128,991) | Stack to Ascension | |
 | Moon Corona | · EA | $13.99 | 210 82% | 6.3k | $88k (exactly $88,137) | 不倒龙工作室, Budaolong Studio |
 | Snow Ash | $14.99 | 179 73% | 5.4k | $80k (exactly $80,496) | Ember Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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