Games › Sandbox › Sandbox + Dark Fantasy
Should I ship a Dark-Fantasy Sandbox?
Sandbox + Dark Fantasy
Of 54 developers who shipped a Dark-Fantasy Sandbox 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.. 148 more are announced, ×3.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.5k, ×8.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $970k, ×1558 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 148 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $478 (exactly $478) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.5k (exactly $5,513) |
| Top 25% | $144k (exactly $143,928) |
| Top 5% | $978k (exactly $978,358) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 54 |
| Released games | 155 |
| Announced | 148 |
| 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 90% on the market, supply 145% more developers than 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.
- Sandbox
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Dark Fantasy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sandbox; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Action, Open World
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Third Person, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 16,064 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 5 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 148 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Sandbox with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FightingStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + CatsFair
- + SportsFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Trading Card GameFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition 2015 · $1.2B 
V Rising 2024 · $116M 
Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ 2014 · $38M 
Stoneshard 2020 · EA · $26M 
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition (2009) 2009 · $19M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition | older | $49.99 | 823,357 96% | 25M | $1.2B (exactly $1,234,788,493) | CD PROJEKT RED |
| | V Rising | older | $34.99 | 110,505 89% | 3.3M | $116M (exactly $115,997,098) | Stunlock Studios |
| | Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ | older | $19.99 | 63,815 92% | 1.9M | $38M (exactly $38,269,856) | Monolith Productions |
| | Stoneshard | · EA older | $24.99 | 34,149 74% | 1.0M | $26M (exactly $25,601,505) | Ink Stains Games |
| | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition (2009) | older | $14.99 | 42,940 94% | 1.3M | $19M (exactly $19,310,118) | Bethesda Game Studios |
 | ASKA | · EA older | $24.99 | 10,457 79% | 314k | $7.8M (exactly $7,839,613) | Sand Sailor Studio |
 | Gothic® 3 | older | $19.99 | 9,088 80% | 273k | $5.5M (exactly $5,450,074) | Piranha Bytes |
 | 龙胤立志传 | $19.99 | 7,153 77% | 215k | $4.3M (exactly $4,289,654) | TPP Studio | |
 | Reign Of Kings | older | $9.99 | 11,838 56% | 355k | $3.5M (exactly $3,547,849) | Code}{atch |
 | Risen | older | $14.99 | 7,878 89% | 236k | $3.5M (exactly $3,542,737) | Piranha Bytes, THQ Nordic |
 | Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms | $34.99 | 1,559 72% | 47k | $1.6M (exactly $1,636,482) | Gamera Interactive | |
 | Worshippers of Cthulhu | $24.99 | 1,305 80% | 39k | $978k (exactly $978,358) | Crazy Goat Games | |
 | Duel Corp. | · EA | $24.99 | 1,251 71% | 38k | $938k (exactly $937,875) | Dreameffect Entertainment |
 | YAR: Forgotten Throne | $19.99 | 1,283 89% | 38k | $769k (exactly $769,415) | Honor Games | |
 | Devil Spire Falls | · EA | $14.99 | 1,068 94% | 32k | $480k (exactly $480,280) | Ithiro Sumi |
 | The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot | $9.99 | 999 98% | 30k | $299k (exactly $299,400) | Stéphane Le Roy | |
 | Ark of Charon | $24.99 | 389 75% | 12k | $292k (exactly $291,633) | Angoo Inc., SUNSOFT | |
 | Dead Weight | $12.99 | 575 82% | 17k | $224k (exactly $224,078) | Klukva Games | |
 | Nested Lands | · EA | $14.99 | 482 73% | 14k | $217k (exactly $216,755) | 1M Bits Horde |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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