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Should I ship a Hack and Slash MMORPG?
MMORPG + Hack and Slash
Only 6 developers shipped a paid Hack and Slash MMORPG 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, Path of Exile 2, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 8 in 10 of the games here are free to play and sit outside these figures. 76 more are announced, ×25 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 10 / 10 build.
Only 3 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $250k against a market of $1.3k. 76 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $253k (exactly $252,731) |
| Top 25% | $3.6M (exactly $3,637,194) |
| Top 5% | $151M (exactly $150,906,681) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 6 |
| Released games | 126 |
| Announced | 76 |
| Effort | 10 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $14.99 |
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 100% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 76%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- MMORPG
- effort 10 / 10 · low · persistent world servers and a live economy
- Hack and Slash
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 10 / 10 · studio only
- Systems
- MMORPG, Hack and Slash
- Price point
- $14.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $49.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 680,772 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 76 games are announced against 3 developers who shipped in the last year, ×25 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
MMORPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + LootPoor odds
- + TradingPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Dungeon CrawlerPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + MagicPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + FantasyPoor odds
- + Class-BasedPoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + Character CustomizationPoor odds
- + ExplorationPoor odds
Comparable games
Monster Hunter: World 2018 · $285M 
Path of Exile 2 2024 · EA · $151M 
Last Epoch 2024 · $112M 
Diablo® IV 2023 · $88M 
Myth of Empires 2024 · $14M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Monster Hunter: World | older | $29.99 | 317,068 89% | 9.5M | $285M (exactly $285,266,080) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| | Path of Exile 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 167,730 76% | 5.0M | $151M (exactly $150,906,681) | Grinding Gear Games |
| | Last Epoch | older | $34.99 | 106,364 76% | 3.2M | $112M (exactly $111,650,291) | Eleventh Hour Games |
| | Diablo® IV | older | $49.99 | 58,668 69% | 1.8M | $88M (exactly $87,984,400) | Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. |
| | Myth of Empires | older | $29.99 | 15,520 68% | 466k | $14M (exactly $13,963,344) | Angela Game |
 | Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization Deluxe Edition | older | $39.99 | 5,731 78% | 172k | $6.9M (exactly $6,875,481) | AQURIA |
 | SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream | $59.99 | 2,021 64% | 61k | $3.6M (exactly $3,637,194) | Dimps Corporation | |
 | SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris | older | $19.99 | 5,017 61% | 151k | $3.0M (exactly $3,008,695) | AQURIA Co., Ltd. |
 | Accel World VS. Sword Art Online Deluxe Edition | older | $39.99 | 917 74% | 28k | $1.1M (exactly $1,100,125) | ARTDINK CORPORATION |
 | Sword Art Online: Lost Song | older | $19.99 | 1,736 80% | 52k | $1.0M (exactly $1,041,079) | Artdink |
 | Soulbound: Online | · EA | $14.99 | 562 58% | 17k | $253k (exactly $252,731) | SpiderWare |
 | Swordia | $4.99 | 5 40% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | Affliction Networks LLC | |
 | Arobynn: Sword of Adventure | $4.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | Jace Of Shadows Gaming LLC | |
 | Dungeon door | $3.00 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Daniel.Co |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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