Do I ship it?

GamesHack and SlashHack and Slash + Crime

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Crime Hack and Slash game?

Hack and Slash + Crime

Only 6 developers shipped a Crime Hack and Slash game 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, Butcher's Creek, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 23 more are announced, ×12 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

Only 2 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $28k against a market of $630. 23 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 45.1 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 23 announced, ×12 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Hack and Slash + Crime
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 6

not enough cohorts to draw

Outcomes for Hack and Slash + Crime: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 6
Bottom 30% $359 (exactly $359)
Median $28k (exactly $28,293)
Top 25% $254k (exactly $253,603)
Top 5% $461k (exactly $461,238)
Developers, 2 yr 6
Released games 25
Announced 23
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 50% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 4%, 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.

Hack and Slash
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Crime
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Hack and Slash
Price point
$5.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.

The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 90% positive over 56,038 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $360, median $28k, 1 in 4 over $250k, 1 in 20 over $460k.

3 in 10 developers made under $360. 23 games are announced against 2 developers who shipped in the last year, ×12 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Hack and Slash with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Turn-BasedStrong odds8 devs · median $14k · 1 announced
  2. + Turn-Based CombatStrong odds28 devs · median $3.7k · 27 announced
  3. + VampiresFair32 devs · median $7.2k · 37 announced
  4. + ModernFair13 devs · median $7.2k · 20 announced
  5. + IdlerFair32 devs · median $6.4k · 50 announced
  6. + IncrementalFair40 devs · median $1.7k · 57 announced
  7. + RomancePoor odds11 devs · median $119k · 25 announced
  8. + Visual NovelPoor odds11 devs · median $85k · 22 announced
  9. + Character Action GamePoor odds27 devs · median $58k · 80 announced
  10. + DestructionPoor odds19 devs · median $43k · 57 announced
  11. + LGBTQ+Poor odds17 devs · median $33k · 20 announced
  12. + AutomationPoor odds12 devs · median $21k · 26 announced

All 175 pairs on the Hack and Slash page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Sifu older $39.99 21,620 92% 649k $26M (exactly $25,937,514) Sloclap
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name older $49.99 9,118 95% 274k $14M (exactly $13,674,265) RGG Studio
Judgment older $39.99 9,407 93% 282k $11M (exactly $11,285,578) RGG Studio
Lost Judgment older $39.99 7,461 93% 224k $9.0M (exactly $8,950,962) RGG Studio
The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me older $39.99 3,778 56% 113k $4.5M (exactly $4,532,467) Supermassive Games
Butcher's Creek $9.99 1,539 94% 46k $461k (exactly $461,238) David Szymanski
Evil School $7.99 1,058 92% 32k $254k (exactly $253,603) CineGame Interactive
They Always Run older $9.99 770 78% 23k $231k (exactly $230,769) Alawar
NightClub Simulator · EA older $6.99 869 92% 26k $182k (exactly $182,229) mandegames
GUARDS! older $9.99 418 68% 13k $125k (exactly $125,275) WYLDERZONE, Lowkey GameDev
Kraken City $4.99 189 67% 5.7k $28k (exactly $28,293) nStarcube
IMPETUM $4.99 87 60% 2.6k $13k (exactly $13,024) TrueGames
Nephew's Vendetta $5.99 2 100% 60 $359 (exactly $359) Colossus Game Studio
Project Almighty 2 $1.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) John C. Ragland

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