Games › Exploration › Exploration + Perma Death
Should I ship an Exploration Perma Death game?
Exploration + Perma Death
Of 190 developers who shipped an Exploration Perma Death 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.. 356 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×2.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $390k, ×821 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 356 games are announced against 111 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,206) |
| Top 25% | $9.6k (exactly $9,581) |
| Top 5% | $390k (exactly $390,203) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 190 |
| Released games | 488 |
| Announced | 356 |
| 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 down 20% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, 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
- Perma Death
- 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, Perma Death; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Procedural Generation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, First-Person, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 382,071 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 95 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 356 games are announced against 111 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 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
Lethal Company 2023 · EA · $123M 
R.E.P.O. 2025 · EA · $102M 
Don't Starve 2013 · $29M 
Until Dawn™ 2024 · $6.4M 
Elin 2024 · EA · $5.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Lethal Company | · EA older | $9.99 | 411,550 97% | 12M | $123M (exactly $123,341,535) | Zeekerss |
| | R.E.P.O. | · EA | $9.99 | 341,004 96% | 10M | $102M (exactly $102,198,899) | semiwork |
| | Don't Starve | older | $9.99 | 97,007 96% | 2.9M | $29M (exactly $29,072,998) | Klei Entertainment |
| | Until Dawn™ | $59.99 | 3,564 82% | 107k | $6.4M (exactly $6,414,131) | Ballistic Moon | |
| | Elin | · EA | $19.99 | 8,406 93% | 252k | $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) | Lafrontier |
 | Day of Dragons | · EA older | $19.99 | 6,278 68% | 188k | $3.8M (exactly $3,764,917) | Beawesome Games |
 | Baldi's Basics Plus | · EA older | $9.99 | 10,895 97% | 327k | $3.3M (exactly $3,265,232) | Basically Games |
 | Nuclear Nightmare | · EA | $6.99 | 15,403 81% | 462k | $3.2M (exactly $3,230,009) | BG Productions |
 | Blackthorn Arena | older | $24.99 | 3,477 69% | 104k | $2.6M (exactly $2,606,707) | PersonaeGame Studio |
 | Everything is Crab: The Animal Evolution Roguelite | $9.99 | 6,876 76% | 206k | $2.1M (exactly $2,060,737) | Odd Dreams Digital | |
 | Aethermancer | · EA | $25.99 | 2,585 91% | 78k | $2.0M (exactly $2,015,524) | moi rai games |
 | Bootstrap Island | $24.99 | 1,362 81% | 41k | $1.0M (exactly $1,021,091) | Maru VR | |
 | Spark in the Dark | · EA | $16.99 | 1,174 87% | 35k | $598k (exactly $598,388) | Stellar Fish |
 | Primordialis | · EA | $19.99 | 974 93% | 29k | $584k (exactly $584,108) | Kyler Natividad, Keith Sammut |
 | Approaching Infinity | $17.99 | 723 95% | 22k | $390k (exactly $390,203) | IBOL |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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