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Should I ship a Hacking Procedural Generation game?
Procedural Generation + Hacking
Only 15 developers shipped a Hacking Procedural Generation 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, Shadows of Doubt, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 37 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×3.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $10M, ×23116 the market median. Revenue is up 410% on the market; 37 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $897 (exactly $897) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,797) |
| Top 25% | $7.5k (exactly $7,549) |
| Top 5% | $11M (exactly $10,980,106) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 45 |
| Announced | 37 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 410% on the market, supply 100% 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.
- Procedural Generation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Hacking
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Procedural Generation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Roguelite, Strategy
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, First-Person, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 15,049 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 7 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 37 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Procedural Generation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SnowFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + DetectiveFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + IdlerFair
- + LogicFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
Comparable games
Shadows of Doubt 2024 · $11M 
Duskers 2016 · $1.4M 
Cogmind 2017 · EA · $1.2M 
ATOMINE 2017 · $97k 
Into The Grid 2025 · EA · $88k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Shadows of Doubt | $24.99 | 14,646 82% | 439k | $11M (exactly $10,980,106) | ColePowered Games | |
| | Duskers | older | $19.99 | 2,304 90% | 69k | $1.4M (exactly $1,381,709) | Misfits Attic |
| | Cogmind | · EA older | $24.99 | 1,560 95% | 47k | $1.2M (exactly $1,169,532) | Grid Sage Games |
| | ATOMINE | older | $9.99 | 324 74% | 9.7k | $97k (exactly $97,103) | Broken Arms Games |
| | Into The Grid | · EA | $14.99 | 195 83% | 5.9k | $88k (exactly $87,692) | Flatline Studios |
 | Conglomerate 451 | older | $19.99 | 145 62% | 4.4k | $87k (exactly $86,956) | RuneHeads |
 | 868-BACK | $19.99 | 122 98% | 3.7k | $73k (exactly $73,163) | Michael Brough | |
 | DROP - System Breach | older | $9.99 | 178 86% | 5.3k | $53k (exactly $53,347) | Etherfield Studio |
 | Deadnaut | older | $9.99 | 128 67% | 3.8k | $38k (exactly $38,362) | Screwfly Studios |
 | Lilith Odyssey | older | $19.99 | 59 76% | 1.8k | $35k (exactly $35,382) | Chaystar Unlimited LLC |
 | Kinetype | · EA | $6.99 | 36 83% | 1.1k | $7.5k (exactly $7,549) | Morlytic |
 | Dataminers | $6.99 | 21 95% | 630 | $4.4k (exactly $4,404) | Electrocosmos | |
 | Unseen Diplomacy 2 | $18.99 | 6 83% | 180 | $3.4k (exactly $3,418) | Triangular Pixels | |
 | packet.Breach() | $14.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $3.1k (exactly $3,148) | CeltiCo | |
 | Turnout | $5.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $1.8k (exactly $1,797) | eevoe | |
 | 137 | · EA | $21.37 | 2 100% | 60 | $1.3k (exactly $1,282) | Ruby the Shark |
 | Null State | $9.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | Triple Eye Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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