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Should I ship an Exploration Grid-Based Movement game?
Exploration + Grid-Based Movement
Of 120 developers who shipped an Exploration Grid-Based Movement game 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.. 198 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $55k, ×117 the market median. Revenue is up 65% on the market; 198 games are announced against 68 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $898 (exactly $898) |
| Top 25% | $5.4k (exactly $5,396) |
| Top 5% | $56k (exactly $55,772) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 120 |
| Released games | 306 |
| Announced | 198 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 65% on the market, supply 30% more 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.
- Exploration
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Grid-Based Movement
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Exploration, Grid-Based Movement; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Dungeon Crawler, Turn-Based Combat
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Pixel Graphics, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 1,717 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 63 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 198 games are announced against 68 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Exploration with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + SpaceshipsFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + WuxiaPoor odds
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Martial ArtsPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + FMVPoor odds
- + FarmingPoor odds
Comparable games
Might & Magic X - Legacy 2014 · $2.9M 
Legend of Grimrock 2 2014 · $2.2M 
Vaporum 2017 · $599k 
Operencia: The Stolen Sun 2020 · $483k 
DUNGEON ENCOUNTERS 2021 · $444k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Might & Magic X - Legacy | older | $29.99 | 3,178 65% | 95k | $2.9M (exactly $2,859,247) | Ubisoft |
| | Legend of Grimrock 2 | older | $23.99 | 3,065 90% | 92k | $2.2M (exactly $2,205,880) | Almost Human Games |
| | Vaporum | older | $19.99 | 998 84% | 30k | $599k (exactly $598,501) | Fatbot Games, s. r. o. |
| | Operencia: The Stolen Sun | older | $29.99 | 537 76% | 16k | $483k (exactly $483,139) | Zen Studios |
| | DUNGEON ENCOUNTERS | older | $29.99 | 494 70% | 15k | $444k (exactly $444,452) | Square Enix |
 | Subterrain: Mines of Titan | older | $19.99 | 657 75% | 20k | $394k (exactly $394,003) | Pixellore Inc |
 | The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians - Enhanced Edition | older | $19.99 | 625 83% | 19k | $375k (exactly $374,812) | Mana Games |
 | Avernum: Escape From the Pit | older | $9.99 | 1,191 91% | 36k | $357k (exactly $356,943) | Spiderweb Software |
 | Potato Flowers in Full Bloom | older | $17.99 | 654 95% | 20k | $353k (exactly $352,964) | Pon Pon Games |
 | Wizardry 8 | older | $9.99 | 1,080 89% | 32k | $324k (exactly $323,676) | Sir-Tech Canada |
 | Midnight Sin | $19.99 | 387 82% | 12k | $232k (exactly $232,084) | Faerin Games | |
 | THYSIASTERY | $17.49 | 309 80% | 9.3k | $162k (exactly $162,132) | DIRGA | |
 | 文字遊戯(日本語版) | $34.99 | 74 90% | 2.2k | $78k (exactly $77,678) | Team9, ESQUADRA,inc. | |
 | Dragon Ruins II | $9.99 | 209 87% | 6.3k | $63k (exactly $62,637) | Graverobber Foundation | |
 | Icaria | $24.99 | 79 75% | 2.4k | $59k (exactly $59,226) | Blindsight Games LLC | |
 | GRIDbeat! | $19.99 | 93 100% | 2.8k | $56k (exactly $55,772) | Ridiculous Games | |
 | Into the Emberlands | $6.59 | 253 79% | 7.6k | $50k (exactly $50,018) | Tiny Roar | |
 | Cyclopean: The Great Abyss | $9.99 | 163 89% | 4.9k | $49k (exactly $48,851) | Schmidt Workshops | |
 | A Kobold Story : Trenchcoat Adventurer | $19.99 | 72 95% | 2.2k | $43k (exactly $43,178) | Crystal Spider Games | |
 | The Darkness Below | $16.99 | 78 80% | 2.3k | $40k (exactly $39,757) | ELEFTHERIADIS SAVVAS |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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