Do I ship it?

Games › Dungeon Crawler › Dungeon Crawler + Local Co-Op

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Local Co-Op Dungeon Crawler?

Dungeon Crawler + Local Co-Op

Of 49 developers who shipped a Local Co-Op Dungeon Crawler 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.. 60 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×3.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 60 games are announced against 32 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.8 times the market baseline, revenue up 10% on the market, 60 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Dungeon Crawler + Local Co-Op
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 49
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $89k → $7.6k → $6.0k → $1.2k → $4.5k → $3.6k → $1.3k (still earning) → $300 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Dungeon Crawler + Local Co-Op: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 49
Bottom 30% $359 (exactly $359)
Median $1.8k (exactly $1,798)
Top 25% $13k (exactly $12,949)
Top 5% $1.7M (exactly $1,678,578)
Developers, 2 yr 49
Released games 182
Announced 60
Effort 4 / 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 10% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Dungeon Crawler
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Local Co-Op
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Dungeon Crawler, Local Co-Op; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Co-op, Action, RPG
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 22,169 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $360, median $1.8k, 1 in 4 over $12k, 1 in 20 over $1.6M.

3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 60 games are announced against 32 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Dungeon Crawler with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Time ManagementFair35 devs · median $7.0k · 44 announced
  2. + GamblingFair16 devs · median $7.0k · 17 announced
  3. + DiceFair24 devs · median $5.1k · 32 announced
  4. + Artificial IntelligenceFair29 devs · median $2.3k · 38 announced
  5. + ZombiesFair65 devs · median $1.0k · 74 announced
  6. + Word GameFair12 devs · median $899 · 15 announced
  7. + ThrillerFair45 devs · median $716 · 46 announced
  8. + Walking SimulatorFair59 devs · median $479 · 62 announced
  9. + Score AttackFair29 devs · median $479 · 33 announced
  10. + MMORPGPoor odds10 devs · median $144k · 80 announced
  11. + DwarvesPoor odds8 devs · median $55k · 30 announced
  12. + Dating SimPoor odds17 devs · median $32k · 42 announced

All 175 pairs on the Dungeon Crawler page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth 2014 · $187M Enter the Gungeon 2016 · $36M Children of Morta 2019 · $12M Crypt of the NecroDancer 2015 · $11M Portal Knights 2017 · $10M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth older $14.99 415,060 96% 12M $187M (exactly $186,652,482) Nicalis, Inc., Edmund McMillen
Enter the Gungeon older $14.99 79,392 95% 2.4M $36M (exactly $35,702,582) Dodge Roll
Children of Morta older $21.99 18,213 88% 546k $12M (exactly $12,015,116) Dead Mage
Crypt of the NecroDancer older $14.99 23,593 95% 708k $11M (exactly $10,609,772) Brace Yourself Games
Portal Knights older $19.99 16,885 83% 507k $10M (exactly $10,125,934) Keen Games GmbH
Darksiders Genesis older $29.99 10,379 82% 311k $9.3M (exactly $9,337,986) Airship Syndicate
Wizard of Legend older $15.99 17,322 91% 520k $8.3M (exactly $8,309,363) Contingent99
Barony older $19.99 12,714 90% 381k $7.6M (exactly $7,624,586) Turning Wheel LLC
Rotwood $29.99 7,459 74% 224k $6.7M (exactly $6,710,862) Klei Entertainment
Nobody Saves the World older $24.99 5,786 91% 174k $4.3M (exactly $4,337,764) Drinkbox Studios
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate $29.99 4,143 83% 124k $3.7M (exactly $3,727,457) Super Evil Megacorp
Dragonkin: The Banished $24.99 2,239 72% 67k $1.7M (exactly $1,678,578) Eko Software
Pathogenic $9.99 4,145 92% 124k $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) Aberrant Labs
Scarlet Idol $7.99 2,586 66% 78k $620k (exactly $619,864) 山雨工作室
DuneCrawl $19.99 568 74% 17k $341k (exactly $340,630) Alientrap
Abandoned Archive $5.99 749 93% 22k $135k (exactly $134,595) Vedal
Age of Barbarians Chronicles $18.99 101 76% 3.0k $58k (exactly $57,540) Crian Soft
Isle of Reveries $19.99 87 91% 2.6k $52k (exactly $52,174) desertcucco
Rogue Fist $8.99 92 89% 2.8k $25k (exactly $24,812) Wetcoat Games

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.