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Should I ship a Hack and Slash Destruction game?
Destruction + Hack and Slash
Only 19 developers shipped a Hack and Slash Destruction 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, Diablo II: Resurrected – Infernal Edition, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 57 more are announced, ×6.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $43k, ×69 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $960; 1 in 20 cleared $7.0M, ×11185 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 57 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $958 (exactly $958) |
|---|---|
| Median | $43k (exactly $43,297) |
| Top 25% | $74k (exactly $73,898) |
| Top 5% | $7.0M (exactly $7,024,244) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 77 |
| Announced | 57 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 10% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Destruction
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Hack and Slash
- 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
- Destruction, Hack and Slash; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action RPG, Action Roguelike
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Voxel
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 9,681 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $960. 6 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 57 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×6.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Destruction with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Space SimFair
- + ModernFair
- + God GameFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CapitalismPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Automobile SimPoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
Comparable games
Diablo II: Resurrected – Infernal Edition 2026 · $7.0M 
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Prophecy 2019 · $2.2M 
Gori: Cuddly Carnage 2024 · $946k 
Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae 2014 · $823k 
Actraiser Renaissance 2021 · $637k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Diablo II: Resurrected – Infernal Edition | $39.99 | 5,855 86% | 176k | $7.0M (exactly $7,024,244) | Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. | |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Prophecy | older | $24.99 | 2,884 79% | 87k | $2.2M (exactly $2,162,135) | NeocoreGames |
| | Gori: Cuddly Carnage | older | $21.99 | 1,434 96% | 43k | $946k (exactly $946,010) | Angry Demon Studio |
| | Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae | older | $9.99 | 2,747 81% | 82k | $823k (exactly $823,276) | Zenith Blue |
| | Actraiser Renaissance | older | $29.99 | 708 74% | 21k | $637k (exactly $636,988) | Square Enix, Sonic Powered |
 | Clone Drone in the Hyperdome | $19.99 | 1,048 91% | 31k | $628k (exactly $628,486) | Doborog Games | |
 | Star Fire: Eternal Cycle | $16.99 | 1,012 91% | 30k | $516k (exactly $515,816) | Ethereal Fish Studio | |
 | 我在地球修仙有系统 | older | $14.99 | 959 70% | 29k | $431k (exactly $431,262) | 红星 |
 | Castle Craft | $19.99 | 480 82% | 14k | $288k (exactly $287,856) | Twin Earth | |
 | Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider | older | $16.99 | 489 85% | 15k | $249k (exactly $249,243) | JoyMasher |
 | MYRIAD DEATH | $8.99 | 274 85% | 8.2k | $74k (exactly $73,898) | IGNITION M, Clover Lab.,inc. | |
 | DigDigDrill | $3.99 | 607 95% | 18k | $73k (exactly $72,658) | Toorai | |
 | Pull Stay | $16.99 | 125 97% | 3.8k | $64k (exactly $63,712) | Nito Souji | |
 | Masks of the Void: Origins | $14.99 | 108 97% | 3.2k | $49k (exactly $48,568) | ROLLDBOX GAMES | |
 | Munch | $16.66 | 96 60% | 2.9k | $48k (exactly $47,981) | Mac n Cheese Games | |
 | Sera's Adventure -Cave of Destruction- | $18.99 | 76 53% | 2.3k | $43k (exactly $43,297) | 渡里laboratory |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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