Do I ship it?

GamesDungeon CrawlerDungeon Crawler + Choose Your Own Adventure

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Choose Your Own Adventure Dungeon Crawler?

Dungeon Crawler + Choose Your Own Adventure

Of 46 developers who shipped a Choose Your Own Adventure Dungeon Crawler 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.. 100 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450, ×0.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $27k, ×58 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 100 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.9 times the market baseline, revenue down 20% on the market, 100 announced, ×3.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Dungeon Crawler + Choose Your Own Adventure
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 46
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.3k → $2.5k → $359 → $299 → $1.2k → $599 → $599 (still earning) → $300 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Dungeon Crawler + Choose Your Own Adventure: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 46
Bottom 30% $178 (exactly $178)
Median $450 (exactly $450)
Top 25% $2.4k (exactly $2,395)
Top 5% $27k (exactly $27,432)
Developers, 2 yr 46
Released games 157
Announced 100
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $7.99

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 20% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Dungeon Crawler
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Choose Your Own Adventure
effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Dungeon Crawler, Choose Your Own Adventure; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Adventure, Action RPG
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Story Rich
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 3,147 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $450, 1 in 4 over $2.3k, 1 in 20 over $27k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 100 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Dungeon Crawler with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Time ManagementFair35 devs · median $7.0k · 44 announced
  2. + GamblingFair16 devs · median $7.0k · 17 announced
  3. + DiceFair24 devs · median $5.1k · 32 announced
  4. + Artificial IntelligenceFair29 devs · median $2.3k · 38 announced
  5. + Local Co-OpFair49 devs · median $1.8k · 60 announced
  6. + ZombiesFair65 devs · median $1.0k · 74 announced
  7. + Word GameFair12 devs · median $899 · 15 announced
  8. + ThrillerFair45 devs · median $716 · 46 announced
  9. + Walking SimulatorFair59 devs · median $479 · 62 announced
  10. + Score AttackFair29 devs · median $479 · 33 announced
  11. + MMORPGPoor odds10 devs · median $144k · 80 announced
  12. + DwarvesPoor odds8 devs · median $55k · 30 announced

All 175 pairs on the Dungeon Crawler page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Pixel Piracy older $14.99 5,713 65% 171k $2.6M (exactly $2,569,136) Vitali Kirpu
Lucky Tower Ultimate $14.99 2,281 94% 68k $1.0M (exactly $1,025,766) Studio Seufz
消失的航班,还有她她她!Lost in the secret! $19.99 602 89% 18k $361k (exactly $361,019) Humongous Pictures
Super Dungeon Maker older $19.99 388 82% 12k $233k (exactly $232,684) FIRECHICK
Quest Master · EA older $19.99 354 98% 11k $212k (exactly $212,294) Apogee Entertainment, Julian Creutz, Sk… (Apogee Entertainment, Julian Creutz, Skydevilpalm)
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain older $19.99 352 76% 11k $211k (exactly $211,094) Tin Man Games
Castle Morihisa older $14.99 348 66% 10k $156k (exactly $156,496) Smokingbear Studio
Zero-based World-从零开始 · EA older $18.99 149 68% 4.5k $85k (exactly $84,885) zerogame
Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection One older $9.99 283 92% 8.5k $85k (exactly $84,815) Westwood Associates, Strategic Simulati… (Westwood Associates, Strategic Simulations)
Time Lock VR 2 older $12.99 170 88% 5.1k $66k (exactly $66,249) WR-VRG
Ragnar $14.99 61 83% 1.8k $27k (exactly $27,432) Fimbulwinter Games
Dungeon Desire: The Sleepless City of Runeheim $13.99 54 72% 1.6k $23k (exactly $22,664) StudioVR
Willow Guard $15.99 39 89% 1.2k $19k (exactly $18,708) MiTale
Damsels in Distress $8.99 36 83% 1.1k $9.7k (exactly $9,709) Anime Mania
Gravebind · EA $14.99 15 93% 450 $6.7k (exactly $6,746) Seamless Network Systems, LLC
The end of paradise $7.99 21 90% 630 $5.0k (exactly $5,034) The Salty Trio
Hatarake! - Working Hard! Even though I getting isekai'd! $4.99 26 88% 780 $3.9k (exactly $3,892) Ilumiansoft
Forsaken Valley $9.99 12 91% 360 $3.6k (exactly $3,596) KineticFox

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.