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Should I ship a Loot Card Battler?
Loot + Card Battler
Of 29 developers who shipped a Loot 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.. 59 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $510k, ×813 the market median. Revenue is up 170% on the market; 59 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,313) |
| Top 25% | $42k (exactly $42,088) |
| Top 5% | $511k (exactly $510,859) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 29 |
| Released games | 54 |
| Announced | 59 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 up 170% on the market, supply 120% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Loot
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Card Battler
- effort 3 / 10 · high · card rules plus simple encounter logic
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot, Card Battler; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Auto Battler, Inventory Management, Strategy
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- all of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 23,046 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 59 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Loot with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds
- + Local Co-OpStrong odds
- + SteampunkStrong odds
- + CapitalismFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + JRPGFair
- + EconomyFair
- + IdlerFair
- + CatsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + CollectathonFair
Comparable games
Backpack Battles 2025 · $8.5M 
Tales & Tactics 2024 · $937k 
Knightica 2025 · $511k 
Arcanium: Rise of Akhan 2022 · $402k 
Down with the Ship 2026 · EA · $367k | 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 | |
| | Tales & Tactics | older | $17.99 | 1,737 80% | 52k | $937k (exactly $937,459) | Table 9 Studio |
| | Knightica | $14.99 | 1,136 74% | 34k | $511k (exactly $510,859) | Mad Mango Games | |
| | Arcanium: Rise of Akhan | older | $19.99 | 670 81% | 20k | $402k (exactly $401,799) | Supercombo, Inc. |
| | Down with the Ship | · EA | $14.99 | 817 93% | 25k | $367k (exactly $367,405) | Iron Anchor Games |
 | Shadowhand: RPG Card Game | older | $16.99 | 668 82% | 20k | $340k (exactly $340,480) | Grey Alien Games |
 | Fickle Card Legend | $7.99 | 992 67% | 30k | $238k (exactly $237,782) | 偶尔不帅 | |
 | Monster Slayers | older | $8.99 | 804 79% | 24k | $217k (exactly $216,839) | Nerdook Productions |
 | DungeonTop | older | $15.99 | 452 80% | 14k | $217k (exactly $216,824) | One Up Plus Entertainment |
 | Backpack Dungeon | $3.99 | 656 87% | 20k | $79k (exactly $78,523) | 夜喵 | |
 | Valefor | $14.99 | 133 66% | 4.0k | $60k (exactly $59,810) | Valefor Ltd | |
 | Stash: A Card Looter | $9.99 | 186 79% | 5.6k | $56k (exactly $55,744) | WheeGaming | |
 | The Dead Await | $12.99 | 108 67% | 3.2k | $42k (exactly $42,088) | Shotx | |
 | HoloSeeker | $3.99 | 66 89% | 2.0k | $7.9k (exactly $7,900) | Imoyokan | |
 | Mech Shuffle | $9.99 | 19 94% | 570 | $5.7k (exactly $5,694) | PillBugGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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