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Should I ship a Dragon Hidden Object?
Hidden Object + Dragons
Of 20 developers who shipped a Dragon Hidden Object 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.. 16 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $810, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $630k, ×1005 the market median. Revenue is up 270% on the market; 16 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $809 (exactly $809) |
| Top 25% | $1.7k (exactly $1,704) |
| Top 5% | $631k (exactly $631,042) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 20 |
| Released games | 45 |
| Announced | 16 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 270% on the market, supply 45% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Hidden Object
- effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets
- Dragons
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Hidden Object; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Point & Click, Puzzle, Creature Collector
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $8.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Atmospheric, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $8.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 669 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 16 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Hidden Object with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + Level EditorFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + CatsFair
- + DogsFair
- + RomanceFair
- + FlightFair
- + City BuilderFair
- + SimulationFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + Word GameFair
- + Point & ClickFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy | $39.99 | 526 90% | 16k | $631k (exactly $631,042) | Microids Studio Paris | |
| | The Secret Order 5: The Buried Kingdom | older | $14.99 | 167 82% | 5.0k | $75k (exactly $75,100) | Sunward Games |
| | The Secret Order 8: Return to the Buried Kingdom | older | $14.99 | 109 82% | 3.3k | $49k (exactly $49,017) | Sunward Games |
| | Sonya: The Great Adventure | older | $6.99 | 175 74% | 5.3k | $37k (exactly $36,698) | Specialbit Studio |
| | Spellbound Beauties | $6.99 | 72 83% | 2.2k | $15k (exactly $15,098) | Lunar Kiss Games | |
| | The Tale of Doris and the Dragon - Episode 2 | older | $11.99 | 36 97% | 1.1k | $13k (exactly $12,949) | Arrogant Pixel LTD |
| | Mystika 3 : Awakening of the dragons | older | $5.99 | 72 93% | 2.2k | $13k (exactly $12,938) | Unikgame |
| | Curse of Dragon Mountains: The Strix | older | $9.99 | 38 47% | 1.1k | $11k (exactly $11,389) | Cateia Games |
| | 100 hidden frogs 2 | older | $0.99 | 327 77% | 9.8k | $9.7k (exactly $9,712) | Anatoliy Loginovskikh |
| | SEARCH ALL - ANIMALS | older | $2.99 | 87 73% | 2.6k | $7.8k (exactly $7,804) | Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich |
| | MONPIC -The Hatchling Meets a Girl- | $8.99 | 16 93% | 480 | $4.3k (exactly $4,315) | Happy Elements K.K | |
| | I Am Busy Digging A Hole | $4.99 | 12 58% | 360 | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) | Welding Byte | |
| | Finding Dragons | $2.99 | 19 89% | 570 | $1.7k (exactly $1,704) | Akaizergames | |
| | Elven Rivers 3: Sky Realm Collector's Edition | $14.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $1.3k (exactly $1,349) | 8floor ltd | |
| | There's No Dragons | $3.99 | 11 90% | 330 | $1.3k (exactly $1,317) | Error 300 | |
| | FIRE The First Dreamer | $19.99 | 2 0% | 60 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | SIC Games | |
| | スローライフサバイバー/SlowLife Survivor | $6.99 | 5 0% | 150 | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) | MIZUBLUE GAMES | |
| | Academy of Magic - A New Beginning | $8.99 | 3 0% | 90 | $809 (exactly $809) | E-FunSoft Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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