Games › Creature Collector › Creature Collector + Exploration
Should I ship an Exploration Creature Collector?
Creature Collector + Exploration
Of 228 developers who shipped an Exploration Creature Collector 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.. 528 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×4.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $1.0M, ×1705 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 528 games are announced against 116 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $719 (exactly $719) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,746) |
| Top 25% | $37k (exactly $37,181) |
| Top 5% | $1.1M (exactly $1,070,572) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 228 |
| Released games | 758 |
| Announced | 528 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 flat on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Creature Collector
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Exploration
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Creature Collector, Exploration; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, RPG, Open World
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, Colorful, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 444,520 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 7 in 10 of the 201 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 528 games are announced against 116 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Creature Collector with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + CapitalismFair
- + LootFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Action RoguelikeFair
- + SpaceFair
- + ZombiesFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
Comparable games
Palworld 2026 · $371M 
Temtem 2022 · $42M 
WILD HEARTS™ 2023 · $22M 
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin 2021 · $14M 
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance 2024 · $14M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Palworld | $29.99 | 411,947 94% | 12M | $371M (exactly $370,628,716) | Pocketpair | |
| | Temtem | older | $44.99 | 31,263 82% | 938k | $42M (exactly $42,195,671) | Crema |
| | WILD HEARTS™ | older | $69.99 | 10,626 48% | 319k | $22M (exactly $22,311,412) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
| | Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin | older | $39.99 | 11,845 82% | 355k | $14M (exactly $14,210,446) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| | Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance | older | $59.99 | 7,858 91% | 236k | $14M (exactly $14,142,043) | ATLUS |
 | Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection | $69.99 | 5,605 77% | 168k | $12M (exactly $11,768,818) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
 | Little Witch in the Woods | $19.99 | 11,691 89% | 351k | $7.0M (exactly $7,011,093) | SUNNY SIDE UP | |
 | Bugsnax | older | $24.99 | 8,673 97% | 260k | $6.5M (exactly $6,502,148) | Young Horses |
 | Monster Sanctuary | older | $19.99 | 10,416 91% | 312k | $6.2M (exactly $6,246,475) | moi rai games |
 | Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch™ Remastered | older | $49.99 | 4,023 83% | 121k | $6.0M (exactly $6,033,293) | LEVEL5 Inc., QLOC |
 | Voidling Bound | $24.99 | 3,126 92% | 94k | $2.3M (exactly $2,343,562) | Hatchery Games | |
 | Aethermancer | · EA | $25.99 | 2,585 91% | 78k | $2.0M (exactly $2,015,524) | moi rai games |
 | Promise Mascot Agency | $24.99 | 2,569 96% | 77k | $1.9M (exactly $1,925,979) | Kaizen Game Works | |
 | Towers of Aghasba | · EA | $29.99 | 1,904 67% | 57k | $1.7M (exactly $1,713,029) | Dreamlit inc. |
 | Yaoling: Mythical Journey | $19.99 | 2,854 90% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,711,544) | RAYKA STUDIO | |
 | RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army | $49.99 | 1,045 93% | 31k | $1.6M (exactly $1,567,186) | ATLUS | |
 | Wicked Island | · EA | $34.99 | 1,194 76% | 36k | $1.3M (exactly $1,253,342) | RawDarkness |
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.