Games › Exploration › Exploration + Ninja
Should I ship a Ninja Exploration game?
Exploration + Ninja
Only 17 developers shipped a Ninja Exploration game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 36 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.5k, ×7.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $73M, ×116864 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 36 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.5k (exactly $4,496) |
| Top 25% | $18k (exactly $17,682) |
| Top 5% | $73M (exactly $73,390,814) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 67 |
| Announced | 36 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 down 55% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, 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
- Ninja
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Exploration; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, 2D Platformer
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Atmospheric, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 76% positive over 37,224 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 4 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 36 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Exploration with a different setting or mood, 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
Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT 2024 · $116M 
Assassin’s Creed Shadows 2025 · $73M 
NINJA GAIDEN Σ [NINJA GAIDEN: Master Collection] 2021 · $3.0M 
BLADECHIMERA 2025 · $611k 
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny 2025 · $597k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT | older | $59.99 | 64,591 93% | 1.9M | $116M (exactly $116,244,423) | Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Softwa… (Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Software) |
| | Assassin’s Creed Shadows | $69.99 | 34,953 75% | 1.0M | $73M (exactly $73,390,814) | Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Belgrade, Ubiso… (Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Belgrade, Ubisoft Bordeaux, Ubisoft Bucharest & Craiova, Ubisoft Chengdu, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Osaka, Ubisoft Philippines, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Sofia, Ubisoft Ukraine) | |
| | NINJA GAIDEN Σ [NINJA GAIDEN: Master Collection] | older | $39.99 | 2,492 82% | 75k | $3.0M (exactly $2,989,652) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
| | BLADECHIMERA | $14.99 | 1,358 88% | 41k | $611k (exactly $610,693) | Team Ladybug, WSS playground | |
| | Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny | $29.99 | 663 85% | 20k | $597k (exactly $596,501) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
 | Bing in Wonderland | older | $8.99 | 2,020 97% | 61k | $545k (exactly $544,794) | Wanba Studio |
 | Way of the Samurai 3 | older | $19.99 | 871 73% | 26k | $522k (exactly $522,339) | ACQUIRE Corp. |
 | Mahokenshi - The Samurai Deckbuilder | older | $24.99 | 464 77% | 14k | $348k (exactly $347,861) | Game Source Studio |
 | KUNAI | older | $16.99 | 442 76% | 13k | $225k (exactly $225,287) | TurtleBlaze |
 | NINJA SLAYER NEO-SAITAMA IN FLAMES(ニンジャスレイヤー ネオサイタマ炎上) | older | $19.99 | 162 39% | 4.9k | $97k (exactly $97,151) | Skeleton Crew Studio |
 | Loli Ninja Village | $6.99 | 92 80% | 2.8k | $19k (exactly $19,292) | PAON, 072 Localize | |
 | Ninja Ming | $9.99 | 59 94% | 1.8k | $18k (exactly $17,682) | 1 Poss Studio | |
 | Cursed Blood | · EA | $14.99 | 37 75% | 1.1k | $17k (exactly $16,639) | David Marquardt Studios |
 | The Last Ninja Collection + Bonus Games | $29.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $14k (exactly $14,395) | System 3 Software | |
 | Katana Dragon | $9.99 | 16 81% | 480 | $4.8k (exactly $4,795) | Tsunoa Games | |
 | FantasyJourney | $9.99 | 15 80% | 450 | $4.5k (exactly $4,496) | XiangziArtStudio | |
 | Ghost Infinite Labyrinth | $7.99 | 15 60% | 450 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | riinwin |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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