Games › Dungeon Crawler › Dungeon Crawler + Procedural Generation
Should I ship a Procedural Generation Dungeon Crawler?
Dungeon Crawler + Procedural Generation
Of 402 developers who shipped a Procedural Generation 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.. 779 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.0k, ×4.3 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $1.0M, ×2260 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 779 games are announced against 250 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $540 (exactly $540) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.0k (exactly $2,035) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $19,793) |
| Top 5% | $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 402 |
| Released games | 1,011 |
| Announced | 779 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Procedural Generation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Dungeon Crawler, Procedural Generation; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Roguelite, RPG
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Difficult
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 68% positive over 248,164 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 169 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 779 games are announced against 250 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dungeon Crawler with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Time ManagementFair
- + GamblingFair
- + DiceFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + ZombiesFair
- + Word GameFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + DwarvesPoor odds
Comparable games
| 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 |
| | Slay the Spire | older | $24.99 | 191,765 97% | 5.8M | $144M (exactly $143,766,220) | Mega Crit |
| | Slay the Spire 2 | · EA | $24.99 | 183,764 61% | 5.5M | $138M (exactly $137,767,871) | Mega Crit |
| | Lethal Company | · EA older | $9.99 | 411,550 97% | 12M | $123M (exactly $123,341,535) | Zeekerss |
| | Darkest Dungeon® II | older | $39.99 | 24,249 74% | 727k | $29M (exactly $29,091,525) | Red Hook Studios |
| | Stoneshard | · EA older | $24.99 | 34,149 74% | 1.0M | $26M (exactly $25,601,505) | Ink Stains Games |
| | Neon Abyss | older | $31.49 | 19,709 86% | 591k | $19M (exactly $18,619,092) | Veewo Games |
| | 9 Kings | · EA | $19.99 | 21,352 92% | 641k | $13M (exactly $12,804,794) | Sad Socket |
| | 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 |
| | Elin | · EA | $19.99 | 8,406 93% | 252k | $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) | Lafrontier |
| | Len's Island | $24.99 | 5,935 82% | 178k | $4.4M (exactly $4,449,470) | Flow Studio | |
| | Mortal Sin | $24.99 | 5,583 94% | 167k | $4.2M (exactly $4,185,575) | Nikola Todorovic | |
| | Heroes of Hammerwatch II | $19.99 | 5,806 82% | 174k | $3.5M (exactly $3,481,858) | Crackshell | |
| | Super Fantasy Kingdom | · EA | $19.99 | 5,630 86% | 169k | $3.4M (exactly $3,376,311) | Super Fantasy Games |
| | SWORN | $24.99 | 3,779 80% | 113k | $2.8M (exactly $2,833,116) | Windwalk Games | |
| | Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault | $29.99 | 3,146 80% | 94k | $2.8M (exactly $2,830,456) | Digital Sun | |
| | Cinderia | · EA | $17.99 | 4,763 88% | 143k | $2.6M (exactly $2,570,591) | MyACG Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.