Games › Stealth › Stealth + Combat
Should I ship a Combat Stealth game?
Stealth + Combat
Of 146 developers who shipped a Combat Stealth 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.. 402 more are announced, ×4.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $1.7M, ×2734 the market median. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 402 games are announced against 89 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $269 (exactly $269) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
| Top 25% | $31k (exactly $30,746) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,717,156) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 146 |
| Released games | 454 |
| Announced | 402 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 30% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Stealth, Combat; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Adventure
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, Story Rich, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 140,102 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $270. 8 in 10 of the 71 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 402 games are announced against 89 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Stealth with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + WargamePoor odds
- + DinosaursPoor odds
- + Gun CustomizationPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Far Cry® 5 | older | $59.99 | 172,897 81% | 5.2M | $311M (exactly $311,162,731) | Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Ubisoft Sh… (Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Kiev) |
| | Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered | older | $59.99 | 101,879 96% | 3.1M | $183M (exactly $183,351,636) | Insomniac Games, Nixxes Software |
| | Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT | older | $59.99 | 64,591 93% | 1.9M | $116M (exactly $116,244,423) | Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Softwa… (Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Software) |
| | Assassin’s Creed Shadows | $69.99 | 34,953 75% | 1.0M | $73M (exactly $73,390,814) | Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Belgrade, Ubiso… (Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Belgrade, Ubisoft Bordeaux, Ubisoft Bucharest & Craiova, Ubisoft Chengdu, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Osaka, Ubisoft Philippines, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Sofia, Ubisoft Ukraine) | |
| | Marvel's Spider-Man 2 | $59.99 | 33,433 83% | 1.0M | $60M (exactly $60,169,370) | Insomniac Games, Nixxes Software | |
| | DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT | older | $39.99 | 49,837 91% | 1.5M | $60M (exactly $59,789,449) | KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS |
| | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | older | $49.99 | 39,234 93% | 1.2M | $59M (exactly $58,839,230) | Insomniac Games, Nixxes Software |
| | Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced | $59.99 | 26,652 81% | 800k | $48M (exactly $47,965,604) | Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Barcelona, U… (Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Barcelona, Ubisoft Bordeaux, Ubisoft Belgrade, Ubisoft Chengdu, Ubisoft India, Ubisoft Kyiv, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Philippines, Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Romania) | |
| | PAYDAY 3 | older | $29.99 | 49,305 45% | 1.5M | $44M (exactly $44,359,708) | Starbreeze Studios |
| | UNCHARTED™: Legacy of Thieves Collection | older | $49.99 | 29,422 90% | 883k | $44M (exactly $44,124,173) | Naughty Dog LLC, Iron Galaxy Studios |
| | Mafia: The Old Country | $49.99 | 20,909 71% | 627k | $31M (exactly $31,357,227) | Hangar 13 | |
| | Horizon Zero Dawn™ Remastered | $49.99 | 6,860 84% | 206k | $10M (exactly $10,287,942) | Guerrilla Games, Nixxes Software | |
| | Fatekeeper | · EA | $9.99 | 10,605 80% | 318k | $3.2M (exactly $3,178,318) | Paraglacial |
| | Commandos: Origins | $49.99 | 1,844 79% | 55k | $2.8M (exactly $2,765,447) | Claymore Game Studios | |
| | Slitterhead | $49.99 | 1,145 78% | 34k | $1.7M (exactly $1,717,156) | Bokeh Game Studio lnc. | |
| | Alien: Rogue Incursion VR | $39.99 | 1,340 70% | 40k | $1.6M (exactly $1,607,598) | Survios | |
| | The Greatest Penguin Heist of All Time | $14.99 | 2,361 90% | 71k | $1.1M (exactly $1,061,742) | That Fish, That Other Fish |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.