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Should I ship a Ninja Hack and Slash game?
Hack and Slash + Ninja
Of 40 developers who shipped a Ninja Hack and Slash 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.. 76 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $17M, ×28282 the market median. Revenue is up 180% on the market; 76 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,876) |
| Top 25% | $19k (exactly $19,181) |
| Top 5% | $18M (exactly $17,761,362) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 40 |
| Released games | 172 |
| Announced | 76 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 180% on the market, supply 15% 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.
- Hack and Slash
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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
- Hack and Slash; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Adventure
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $49.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Third Person, Violent
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $49.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 32,740 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 6 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 76 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Hack and Slash with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Turn-BasedStrong odds
- + Turn-Based CombatStrong odds
- + VampiresFair
- + ModernFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + RomancePoor odds
- + Visual NovelPoor odds
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + DestructionPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition 2019 · $467M 
METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE 2014 · $62M 
Nioh: Complete Edition 2017 · $44M 
Ghostrunner 2020 · $42M 
Katana ZERO 2019 · $30M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition | older | $59.99 | 259,508 95% | 7.8M | $467M (exactly $467,036,548) | FromSoftware, Inc. |
| | METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE | older | $29.99 | 69,104 96% | 2.1M | $62M (exactly $62,172,869) | PlatinumGames |
| | Nioh: Complete Edition | older | $49.99 | 29,580 78% | 887k | $44M (exactly $44,361,126) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
| | Ghostrunner | older | $29.99 | 46,818 91% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,122,155) | One More Level, 3D Realms, Slipgate Iro… (One More Level, 3D Realms, Slipgate Ironworks™, All in! Games) |
| | Katana ZERO | older | $14.99 | 66,341 97% | 2.0M | $30M (exactly $29,833,548) | Askiisoft |
 | Nioh 3 | $69.99 | 11,777 78% | 353k | $25M (exactly $24,728,167) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. | |
 | Shadow Warrior 2 | older | $29.99 | 24,120 87% | 724k | $22M (exactly $21,700,764) | Flying Wild Hog |
 | NINJA GAIDEN 4 | $69.99 | 8,459 88% | 254k | $18M (exactly $17,761,362) | PlatinumGames Inc. / Team NINJA / KOEI… (PlatinumGames Inc. / Team NINJA / KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.) | |
 | Shadow Warrior | older | $29.99 | 15,960 92% | 479k | $14M (exactly $14,359,212) | Flying Wild Hog |
 | Ghostrunner 2 | older | $39.99 | 7,981 80% | 239k | $9.6M (exactly $9,574,806) | One More Level |
 | NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black | $49.99 | 3,289 78% | 99k | $4.9M (exactly $4,932,513) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. | |
 | SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance | $29.99 | 3,564 83% | 107k | $3.2M (exactly $3,206,531) | SEGA, Lizardcube | |
 | NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound | $24.99 | 2,500 92% | 75k | $1.9M (exactly $1,874,250) | The Game Kitchen | |
 | Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny | $29.99 | 663 85% | 20k | $597k (exactly $596,501) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
 | Yasuke Simulator | $6.99 | 1,925 97% | 58k | $404k (exactly $403,672) | HistoryAccurateDevelopers | |
 | The Spirit of the Samurai | $19.99 | 413 59% | 12k | $248k (exactly $247,676) | Digital Mind Games | |
 | Mexican Ninja | $16.99 | 76 89% | 2.3k | $39k (exactly $38,737) | Madbricks | |
 | Haneda Girl | $14.99 | 74 94% | 2.2k | $33k (exactly $33,278) | Studio Koba |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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