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Should I ship a Hack and Slash Parkour game?
Parkour + Hack and Slash
Only 18 developers shipped a Hack and Slash Parkour 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, MOTORSLICE, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 72 more are announced, ×8.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.4k, ×5.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $3.2M, ×5221 the market median. Revenue is up 815% on the market; 72 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $718 (exactly $718) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.4k (exactly $3,356) |
| Top 25% | $539k (exactly $538,531) |
| Top 5% | $3.3M (exactly $3,278,560) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 68 |
| Announced | 72 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 up 815% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 18%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Parkour
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Hack and Slash
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Parkour, Hack and Slash; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Platformer
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $54.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Anime, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $54.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 10,944 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 8 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 72 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×8.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Parkour with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + MetroidvaniaPoor odds
- + SkateboardingPoor odds
- + SwordplayPoor odds
- + Dark FantasyPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + CatsPoor odds
- + DestructionPoor odds
- + StealthPoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
Comparable games
Dying Light 2015 · $280M 
Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ 2014 · $38M 
Shadow Warrior 2 2016 · $22M 
Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition 2015 · $15M 
Prototype 2 2012 · $12M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dying Light | older | $24.99 | 373,413 95% | 11M | $280M (exactly $279,947,726) | Techland |
| | Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ | older | $19.99 | 63,815 92% | 1.9M | $38M (exactly $38,269,856) | Monolith Productions |
| | Shadow Warrior 2 | older | $29.99 | 24,120 87% | 724k | $22M (exactly $21,700,764) | Flying Wild Hog |
| | Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition | older | $29.99 | 16,313 78% | 489k | $15M (exactly $14,676,806) | Gunfire Games, Vigil Games, THQ Nordic |
| | Prototype 2 | older | $39.99 | 10,389 75% | 312k | $12M (exactly $12,463,683) | Radical Entertainment |
 | Remember Me | older | $29.99 | 11,128 83% | 334k | $10M (exactly $10,011,862) | DONTNOD Entertainment |
 | Prototype™ | older | $19.99 | 12,518 80% | 376k | $7.5M (exactly $7,507,045) | Radical Entertainment |
 | ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™ Premium Edition | older | $19.99 | 5,789 86% | 174k | $3.5M (exactly $3,471,663) | Ninja Theory |
 | MOTORSLICE | $19.99 | 5,467 85% | 164k | $3.3M (exactly $3,278,560) | Regular Studio | |
 | The Rogue Prince of Persia | $29.99 | 2,393 89% | 72k | $2.2M (exactly $2,152,982) | Evil Empire | |
 | KYOTO XANADU -the Blooming Phantom- | $54.99 | 403 78% | 12k | $665k (exactly $664,829) | Nihon Falcom | |
 | Bloodthief | $19.99 | 1,017 95% | 31k | $610k (exactly $609,895) | Blargis | |
 | Shady Knight | $19.99 | 898 93% | 27k | $539k (exactly $538,531) | Alexey 'cptnsigh' | |
 | Survival Machine | $19.99 | 692 69% | 21k | $415k (exactly $414,992) | Grape Pickers | |
 | ZIX | · EA | $9.99 | 28 78% | 840 | $8.4k (exactly $8,392) | Hidden IO |
 | GwenBlade: Halloween | $5.99 | 27 92% | 810 | $4.9k (exactly $4,852) | ArcWillow | |
 | Zorro and Zedd | $7.99 | 14 71% | 420 | $3.4k (exactly $3,356) | Cloud Control Games | |
 | UNPLUG - The Game | · EA | $10.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $1.6k (exactly $1,648) | GoldLime Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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