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Should I ship a Loot Card Game?
Loot + Card Game
Of 37 developers who shipped a Loot Card 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.. 61 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, ×0.8 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $60; 1 in 20 cleared $74k, ×118 the market median. Revenue is up 1500% on the market; 61 games are announced against 26 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $479 (exactly $479) |
| Top 25% | $5.7k (exactly $5,694) |
| Top 5% | $74k (exactly $74,326) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 37 |
| Released games | 85 |
| Announced | 61 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 1500% on the market, supply 135% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 24%, 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
- Loot, Card Game; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Deckbuilding, RPG
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 2,601 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 19 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 61 games are announced against 26 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 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
Dungeon Drafters 2023 · $422k 
Arcanium: Rise of Akhan 2022 · $402k 
Shadowhand: RPG Card Game 2017 · $340k 
This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker 2025 · $320k 
Prime World: Defenders 2013 · $218k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dungeon Drafters | older | $24.99 | 563 76% | 17k | $422k (exactly $422,081) | Manalith Studios |
| | Arcanium: Rise of Akhan | older | $19.99 | 670 81% | 20k | $402k (exactly $401,799) | Supercombo, Inc. |
| | Shadowhand: RPG Card Game | older | $16.99 | 668 82% | 20k | $340k (exactly $340,480) | Grey Alien Games |
| | This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker | $5.99 | 1,781 86% | 53k | $320k (exactly $320,046) | Mash | |
| | Prime World: Defenders | older | $9.99 | 729 78% | 22k | $218k (exactly $218,481) | Nival |
 | 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 |
 | Lost For Swords | $9.99 | 248 89% | 7.4k | $74k (exactly $74,326) | MaxBytes | |
 | Sea Horizon | older | $14.99 | 145 75% | 4.4k | $65k (exactly $65,206) | 45 Studio |
 | 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 | |
 | CARNEDGE | $6.99 | 60 68% | 1.8k | $13k (exactly $12,582) | OneShark | |
 | Card Corner | $4.99 | 75 76% | 2.3k | $11k (exactly $11,228) | Conradical Games | |
 | Light Fingers | $19.99 | 17 76% | 510 | $10k (exactly $10,195) | Numizmatic | |
 | BULK | $6.49 | 41 75% | 1.2k | $8.0k (exactly $7,983) | Carlos 'Monty' Montamarta | |
 | 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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