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Should I ship an Online Co-Op Dungeon Crawler?
Online Co-Op + Dungeon Crawler
Of 159 developers who shipped an Online 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.. 322 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.2k, ×2.8 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $11M, ×7528 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 322 games are announced against 103 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $538 (exactly $538) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) |
| Top 25% | $157k (exactly $157,439) |
| Top 5% | $11M (exactly $11,276,238) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 159 |
| Released games | 310 |
| Announced | 322 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 down 50% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Online Co-Op
- effort 8 / 10 · low · netcode, lobbies and state sync across machines
- Dungeon Crawler
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Online Co-Op, Dungeon Crawler; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Co-op, RPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 423,073 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 6 in 10 of the 62 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 322 games are announced against 103 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Online Co-Op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Bullet HeavenStrong odds
- + Escape RoomFair
- + TypingFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
Comparable games
Path of Exile 2 2024 · EA · $151M 
Lethal Company 2023 · EA · $123M 
Diablo® IV 2023 · $88M 
Gunfire Reborn 2021 · $53M 
Escape the Backrooms 2025 · $41M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Path of Exile 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 167,730 76% | 5.0M | $151M (exactly $150,906,681) | Grinding Gear Games |
| | Lethal Company | · EA older | $9.99 | 411,550 97% | 12M | $123M (exactly $123,341,535) | Zeekerss |
| | Diablo® IV | older | $49.99 | 58,668 69% | 1.8M | $88M (exactly $87,984,400) | Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. |
| | Gunfire Reborn | older | $19.99 | 88,536 93% | 2.7M | $53M (exactly $53,095,039) | Gunfire Reborn Studio |
| | Escape the Backrooms | $9.99 | 137,315 90% | 4.1M | $41M (exactly $41,153,306) | Fancy Games, Blackbird Interactive | |
 | Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem | older | $19.99 | 61,837 55% | 1.9M | $37M (exactly $37,083,649) | WOLCEN Studio |
 | Torchlight II | older | $19.99 | 33,094 92% | 993k | $20M (exactly $19,846,472) | Runic Games |
 | Wayfinder | $24.99 | 25,104 60% | 753k | $19M (exactly $18,820,469) | Airship Syndicate | |
 | Titan Quest II | · EA | $34.99 | 17,398 81% | 522k | $18M (exactly $18,262,681) | Grimlore Games |
 | Torchlight III | older | $39.99 | 10,401 47% | 312k | $12M (exactly $12,478,080) | Echtra Inc. |
 | Mistfall Hunter | $24.99 | 16,045 53% | 481k | $12M (exactly $12,028,936) | Bellring Games | |
 | Shape of Dreams | $24.99 | 15,769 89% | 473k | $12M (exactly $11,822,019) | Lizard Smoothie | |
 | Fellowship | · EA | $24.99 | 15,357 74% | 461k | $12M (exactly $11,513,143) | Chief Rebel |
 | Deadzone: Rogue | $24.99 | 15,041 82% | 451k | $11M (exactly $11,276,238) | Prophecy Games | |
 | Diablo II: Resurrected – Infernal Edition | $39.99 | 5,855 86% | 176k | $7.0M (exactly $7,024,244) | Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. | |
 | Rotwood | $29.99 | 7,459 74% | 224k | $6.7M (exactly $6,710,862) | Klei Entertainment |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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