Should I ship a Cooking JRPG?
JRPG + Cooking
Only 13 developers shipped a Cooking JRPG in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Bloomtown: A Different Story, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 25 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $34k, ×53 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.4k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.0M, ×1705 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 25 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) |
|---|---|
| Median | $34k (exactly $33,583) |
| Top 25% | $203k (exactly $203,207) |
| Top 5% | $1.1M (exactly $1,070,572) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 29 |
| Announced | 25 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $12.99 |
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 90% on the market, supply 235% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 3%, 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
- JRPG, Cooking; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, RPG, Exploration
- Price point
- $12.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Cute, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $12.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 3,822 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.4k. 25 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
JRPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + NinjaFair
- + RomanceFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + ManagementFair
- + Souls-likeFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LootFair
- + RoguelikeFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Touhou Mystia's Izakaya | older | $5.99 | 29,517 98% | 886k | $5.3M (exactly $5,304,205) | 二色幽紫蝶, Re零同人社 |
| | Cuisineer | older | $24.99 | 1,820 76% | 55k | $1.4M (exactly $1,364,454) | BattleBrew Productions |
| | Bloomtown: A Different Story | $24.99 | 1,428 85% | 43k | $1.1M (exactly $1,070,572) | Lazy Bear Games, Different Sense Games | |
| | Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town | $29.99 | 837 95% | 25k | $753k (exactly $753,049) | h.a.n.d., Inc. | |
| | SunnySide | older | $19.99 | 913 67% | 27k | $548k (exactly $547,526) | Aftabi Games |
| | MeteoriteFall | $12.99 | 651 78% | 20k | $254k (exactly $253,695) | ST studio | |
| | Terra Memoria | older | $19.99 | 384 85% | 12k | $230k (exactly $230,285) | La Moutarde |
| | HYKE:Northern Light(s) | $27.99 | 242 73% | 7.3k | $203k (exactly $203,207) | Akatsuki Games Inc., Blast Edge Games I… (Akatsuki Games Inc., Blast Edge Games Inc.) | |
| | Dragon Song Tavern: Cozy & Adventurous | $19.90 | 274 71% | 8.2k | $164k (exactly $163,578) | Etherous Games Limited | |
| | Midnight Ramen | older | $11.99 | 294 96% | 8.8k | $106k (exactly $105,752) | Cointinue Games |
| | Body Sushi | $10.99 | 130 90% | 3.9k | $43k (exactly $42,861) | AOTINA Technology Innovations Ltd. | |
| | Dosa Divas | $19.99 | 56 94% | 1.7k | $34k (exactly $33,583) | Outerloop Games | |
| | Welcome to Planet E1d0r4d0! | $8.99 | 119 68% | 3.6k | $32k (exactly $32,094) | LuluGames | |
| | GladiEATers | · EA | $14.99 | 69 92% | 2.1k | $31k (exactly $31,029) | MilkBubblesGames |
| | Deepfried in Deepspace | $4.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | Medium Well Games |
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.