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Should I ship a Loot Deckbuilding?
Loot + Deckbuilding
Of 54 developers who shipped a Loot Deckbuilding 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.. 91 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $360k, ×585 the market median. Revenue is up 75% on the market; 91 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,936) |
| Top 25% | $34k (exactly $34,466) |
| Top 5% | $367k (exactly $367,405) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 54 |
| Released games | 90 |
| Announced | 91 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 up 75% on the market, supply 140% 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.
- Loot
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Deckbuilding
- effort 3 / 10 · high · card pools and run logic
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot, Deckbuilding; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelite, Auto Battler
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $13.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $13.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 8,198 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 6 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 91 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Loot with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds
- + Local Co-OpStrong odds
- + SteampunkStrong odds
- + CapitalismFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + JRPGFair
- + EconomyFair
- + IdlerFair
- + CatsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + CollectathonFair
Comparable games
Megaloot 2024 · $1.1M 
Knightica 2025 · $511k 
Dungeon Drafters 2023 · $422k 
Overlooting 2025 · $421k 
Arcanium: Rise of Akhan 2022 · $402k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Megaloot | older | $9.99 | 3,808 71% | 114k | $1.1M (exactly $1,141,258) | axilirate |
| | Knightica | $14.99 | 1,136 74% | 34k | $511k (exactly $510,859) | Mad Mango Games | |
| | Dungeon Drafters | older | $24.99 | 563 76% | 17k | $422k (exactly $422,081) | Manalith Studios |
| | Overlooting | $9.99 | 1,405 81% | 42k | $421k (exactly $421,078) | Posing Possums | |
| | Arcanium: Rise of Akhan | older | $19.99 | 670 81% | 20k | $402k (exactly $401,799) | Supercombo, Inc. |
 | Dicefolk | older | $14.99 | 867 89% | 26k | $390k (exactly $389,890) | LEAP Game Studios, Tiny Ghoul |
 | Down with the Ship | · EA | $14.99 | 817 93% | 25k | $367k (exactly $367,405) | Iron Anchor Games |
 | Shadowhand: RPG Card Game | older | $16.99 | 668 82% | 20k | $340k (exactly $340,480) | Grey Alien Games |
 | This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker | $5.99 | 1,781 86% | 53k | $320k (exactly $320,046) | Mash | |
 | Backpack Jianghu | $13.99 | 565 80% | 17k | $237k (exactly $237,130) | 背包工作室 | |
 | Bones and Coins | $7.99 | 638 72% | 19k | $153k (exactly $152,929) | Troyd Games | |
 | Bioweaver | $6.99 | 668 77% | 20k | $140k (exactly $140,080) | Emprom Game, Wild Kid Games | |
 | Runeborn | $13.99 | 284 80% | 8.5k | $119k (exactly $119,195) | iDream Interactive | |
 | Backpack Dungeon | $3.99 | 656 87% | 20k | $79k (exactly $78,523) | 夜喵 | |
 | Lost For Swords | $9.99 | 248 89% | 7.4k | $74k (exactly $74,326) | MaxBytes |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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