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Should I ship a Dungeon Crawler JRPG?
JRPG + Dungeon Crawler
Of 203 developers who shipped a Dungeon Crawler JRPG 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.. 248 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.9k, ×7.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $200k, ×333 the market median. Revenue is up 55% on the market; 248 games are announced against 104 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $898 (exactly $898) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.9k (exactly $4,947) |
| Top 25% | $35k (exactly $34,618) |
| Top 5% | $209k (exactly $208,986) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 203 |
| Released games | 593 |
| Announced | 248 |
| 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 up 55% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- JRPG
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Dungeon Crawler
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- JRPG, Dungeon Crawler; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Adventure, Turn-Based Combat
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Anime, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 24,837 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 8 in 10 of the 118 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 248 games are announced against 104 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
JRPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + NinjaFair
- + RomanceFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + ManagementFair
- + Souls-likeFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LootFair
- + RoguelikeFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ni no Kuni™ II: Revenant Kingdom | older | $59.99 | 8,100 82% | 243k | $15M (exactly $14,577,570) | LEVEL5 Inc. |
| | Echoes of Aincrad | $69.99 | 4,108 47% | 123k | $8.6M (exactly $8,625,568) | Game Studio Inc. | |
| | The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel | older | $39.99 | 5,131 94% | 154k | $6.2M (exactly $6,155,661) | Nihon Falcom |
| | Fear & Hunger 2: Termina | older | $11.99 | 14,232 97% | 427k | $5.1M (exactly $5,119,250) | Miro Haverinen |
| | Elin | · EA | $19.99 | 8,406 93% | 252k | $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) | Lafrontier |
| | Battle Chasers: Nightwar | older | $29.99 | 5,573 87% | 167k | $5.0M (exactly $5,014,028) | Airship Syndicate |
| | Fear & Hunger | older | $7.99 | 20,881 94% | 626k | $5.0M (exactly $5,005,176) | Miro Haverinen |
| | Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale | older | $19.99 | 6,684 95% | 201k | $4.0M (exactly $4,008,395) | EasyGameStation |
| | Tokyo Xanadu eX+ | older | $59.99 | 1,328 86% | 40k | $2.4M (exactly $2,390,002) | Nihon Falcom |
| | Dragon Cliff | older | $9.99 | 7,679 88% | 230k | $2.3M (exactly $2,301,396) | Meta Interaction |
| | BLACK SOULS II | $13.99 | 5,277 97% | 158k | $2.2M (exactly $2,214,757) | Eeny, meeny, miny, moe? | |
| | Aethermancer | · EA | $25.99 | 2,585 91% | 78k | $2.0M (exactly $2,015,524) | moi rai games |
| | The Shimmering Horizon and Cursed Blacksmith | $19.99 | 983 58% | 29k | $590k (exactly $589,505) | Ason | |
| | Nigate Tale | $19.99 | 678 67% | 20k | $407k (exactly $406,597) | Hermit Games, 2P Games | |
| | Labyrinth of Touhou Tri -The Dreaming Girls & The Mysterious Orbs- | $19.99 | 616 82% | 18k | $369k (exactly $369,415) | Nise-Eikoku Studio | |
| | Nightmare Knight ~Sacred Maiden & Fallen Magic~ | $17.99 | 557 86% | 17k | $301k (exactly $300,613) | orzPINEz | |
| | Legends of Dragaea: Idle Dungeons | $9.99 | 976 86% | 29k | $293k (exactly $292,507) | Blast Programming | |
| | MeteoriteFall | $12.99 | 651 78% | 20k | $254k (exactly $253,695) | ST studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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