Games › Mystery Dungeon › Mystery Dungeon + Fantasy
Should I ship a Fantasy Mystery Dungeon?
Mystery Dungeon + Fantasy
Of 147 developers who shipped a Fantasy Mystery Dungeon 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.. 201 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.6k, ×5.6 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $420; 1 in 20 cleared $300k, ×633 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 201 games are announced against 71 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $419 (exactly $419) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.6k (exactly $2,637) |
| Top 25% | $25k (exactly $24,762) |
| Top 5% | $301k (exactly $300,613) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 147 |
| Released games | 449 |
| Announced | 201 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 10% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Mystery Dungeon
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Fantasy
- 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
- Mystery Dungeon; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Adventure, Dungeon Crawler
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 11,380 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 8 in 10 of the 86 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 201 games are announced against 71 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Mystery Dungeon with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGStrong odds
- + TacticalStrong odds
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + RomanceFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SimulationFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + PhysicsFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy | $49.99 | 3,558 92% | 107k | $5.3M (exactly $5,335,933) | Asobo Studio | |
| | Touhou Genso Wanderer -Reloaded- | older | $34.99 | 1,734 93% | 52k | $1.8M (exactly $1,820,180) | AQUASTYLE |
| | Hammerwatch II | older | $24.99 | 1,871 60% | 56k | $1.4M (exactly $1,402,689) | Crackshell |
| | Escape Dungeon 2 | older | $17.99 | 1,700 93% | 51k | $917k (exactly $917,490) | Hide Games |
| | In Verbis Virtus | older | $19.99 | 1,464 78% | 44k | $878k (exactly $877,961) | Indomitus Games |
| | FANTASIAN Neo Dimension | $49.99 | 500 76% | 15k | $750k (exactly $749,850) | Mistwalker Corporation | |
| | Stonemachia | $19.99 | 1,244 95% | 37k | $746k (exactly $746,027) | Crossfall Games | |
| | Vivid Knight | older | $14.99 | 1,635 89% | 49k | $735k (exactly $735,260) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd |
| | FALL IN LABYRINTH | older | $19.99 | 1,073 95% | 32k | $643k (exactly $643,478) | JUKKAKU GAMES |
| | Shattered Pixel Dungeon | older | $9.99 | 2,106 95% | 63k | $631k (exactly $631,168) | Shattered Pixel |
| | Spark in the Dark | · EA | $16.99 | 1,174 87% | 35k | $598k (exactly $598,388) | Stellar Fish |
| | Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island | $39.99 | 470 85% | 14k | $564k (exactly $563,859) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | |
| | Rustil: Eternal Labyrinth Castle | $18.99 | 950 71% | 29k | $541k (exactly $541,215) | KTMG LLC. | |
| | Skull Horde | $12.99 | 1,083 81% | 32k | $422k (exactly $422,045) | 8BitSkull | |
| | Nightmare Knight ~Sacred Maiden & Fallen Magic~ | $17.99 | 557 86% | 17k | $301k (exactly $300,613) | orzPINEz | |
| | EXD - Extra Dimensional | $29.99 | 316 82% | 9.5k | $284k (exactly $284,305) | Lords of Illusion | |
| | TRADESMAN: Deal to Dealer | $4.99 | 1,528 78% | 46k | $229k (exactly $228,742) | AZAMATIKA |
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.