Games › Stealth › Stealth + Hack and Slash
Should I ship a Hack and Slash Stealth game?
Stealth + Hack and Slash
Of 25 developers who shipped a Hack and Slash Stealth 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.. 71 more are announced, ×5.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.6k, ×2.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $3.1M, ×5061 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 71 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.6k (exactly $1,648) |
| Top 25% | $33k (exactly $33,278) |
| Top 5% | $3.2M (exactly $3,178,318) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 105 |
| Announced | 71 |
| 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 down 65% on the market, supply 10% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Stealth
- 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
- Stealth, Hack and Slash; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, RPG, Action RPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 18,690 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 71 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Stealth with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + WargamePoor odds
- + DinosaursPoor odds
- + Gun CustomizationPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition 2019 · $467M 
Dying Light 2015 · $280M 
Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ 2017 · $132M 
METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE 2014 · $62M 
Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ 2014 · $38M | 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. |
| | Dying Light | older | $24.99 | 373,413 95% | 11M | $280M (exactly $279,947,726) | Techland |
| | Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ | older | $49.99 | 87,777 88% | 2.6M | $132M (exactly $131,639,167) | Monolith Productions |
| | METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE | older | $29.99 | 69,104 96% | 2.1M | $62M (exactly $62,172,869) | PlatinumGames |
| | Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ | older | $19.99 | 63,815 92% | 1.9M | $38M (exactly $38,269,856) | Monolith Productions |
 | Prototype 2 | older | $39.99 | 10,389 75% | 312k | $12M (exactly $12,463,683) | Radical Entertainment |
 | Prototype™ | older | $19.99 | 12,518 80% | 376k | $7.5M (exactly $7,507,045) | Radical Entertainment |
 | The Killing Antidote | · EA | $29.99 | 7,512 88% | 225k | $6.8M (exactly $6,758,546) | MetalStar Studio |
 | Fatekeeper | · EA | $9.99 | 10,605 80% | 318k | $3.2M (exactly $3,178,318) | Paraglacial |
 | Dark Messiah of Might & Magic | older | $9.99 | 9,331 89% | 280k | $2.8M (exactly $2,796,501) | Arkane Studios |
 | Redemption of Liuyin | $18.99 | 137 83% | 4.1k | $78k (exactly $78,049) | kingnagame | |
 | INTO EVIL | · EA | $14.99 | 106 92% | 3.2k | $48k (exactly $47,668) | Mind's Eye Games |
 | Blood of Mehran | $24.99 | 60 60% | 1.8k | $45k (exactly $44,982) | Permanent Way Game Co. | |
 | Lia: Hacking Destiny | $14.99 | 92 96% | 2.8k | $41k (exactly $41,372) | Orube Game Studio | |
 | Haneda Girl | $14.99 | 74 94% | 2.2k | $33k (exactly $33,278) | Studio Koba | |
 | Besmirch | · EA | $9.99 | 79 97% | 2.4k | $24k (exactly $23,676) | Gangru Games |
 | Fallen Angel: Hell Survival | $19.99 | 15 86% | 450 | $9.0k (exactly $8,996) | Strongfinger | |
 | Downward Spear | · EA | $14.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $4.5k (exactly $4,497) | imakegame software |
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.