Do I ship it?

Games › Loot › Loot + Hidden Object

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Loot Hidden Object?

Loot + Hidden Object

Of 43 developers who shipped a Loot Hidden Object 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.. 48 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $480, ×0.8 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $50. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 48 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.8 times the market baseline, revenue up 35% on the market, 48 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Loot + Hidden Object
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 43
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.5k → $3.9k → $987 → $299 → $0 → $2.0k → $466 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Loot + Hidden Object: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 43
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $480 (exactly $480)
Top 25% $6.3k (exactly $6,290)
Top 5% $382k (exactly $381,838)
Developers, 2 yr 43
Released games 132
Announced 48
Effort 5 / 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 35% on the market, supply 70% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Loot
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Hidden Object
effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Loot, Hidden Object; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Collectathon, Action, Adventure
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 75% positive over 4,911 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $480, 1 in 4 over $6.2k, 1 in 20 over $380k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Loot with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds28 devs · median $19k · 22 announced
  2. + Local Co-OpStrong odds22 devs · median $7.3k · 21 announced
  3. + SteampunkStrong odds7 devs · median $2.2k · 10 announced
  4. + CapitalismFair36 devs · median $14k · 52 announced
  5. + Turn-Based StrategyFair86 devs · median $6.3k · 97 announced
  6. + JRPGFair34 devs · median $5.5k · 41 announced
  7. + EconomyFair74 devs · median $4.6k · 114 announced
  8. + IdlerFair181 devs · median $4.5k · 256 announced
  9. + CatsFair17 devs · median $3.4k · 24 announced
  10. + IncrementalFair145 devs · median $2.9k · 236 announced
  11. + Creature CollectorFair51 devs · median $2.9k · 67 announced
  12. + CollectathonFair90 devs · median $1.9k · 95 announced

All 159 pairs on the Loot page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Granny: Escape Together 2024 · $498k holoVillage: Our Cozy Days 2026 · $388k DRAGON QUEST TREASURES 2023 · $385k My Wife Threw Out My Card Collection (So I Bought a Dump to Find Them All) ⭐ 2025 · $382k Goonya Monster 2022 · $111k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Granny: Escape Together $9.99 1,661 79% 50k $498k (exactly $497,802) CreepyToad
holoVillage: Our Cozy Days $24.99 518 83% 16k $388k (exactly $388,345) Roboqlo
DRAGON QUEST TREASURES older $49.99 257 77% 7.7k $385k (exactly $385,423) Square Enix, TOSE CO., LTD.
My Wife Threw Out My Card Collection (So I Bought a Dump to Find Them All) ⭐ $7.95 1,601 65% 48k $382k (exactly $381,838) Polnoch
Goonya Monster older $19.99 185 76% 5.6k $111k (exactly $110,944) MUTAN
Smash Hit Museum $6.99 507 85% 15k $106k (exactly $106,318) InIt Games
Summon older $0.99 2,999 92% 90k $89k (exactly $89,070) Goosix Games
Treasure Beach $9.99 271 81% 8.1k $81k (exactly $81,219) Rogue Duck Interactive
Survival: Lost Way older $6.99 242 34% 7.3k $51k (exactly $50,747) SimplePlan
恶魔迷宫 | Evil Maze older $1.99 807 76% 24k $48k (exactly $48,178) ZOV GAME STUDIO
Queen of treasure isle · EA $8.99 96 94% 2.9k $26k (exactly $25,891) gobou
Ortharion : The Last Battle $9.99 83 63% 2.5k $25k (exactly $24,875) Ortharion project
Still It Runs $9.99 70 48% 2.1k $21k (exactly $20,979) NAYUG, KADOKAWA
Dig for TCG Cards With Your Friends $6.99 77 44% 2.3k $16k (exactly $16,147) 3 Rare Devs
The Worries of Santa Clauses $7.99 27 100% 810 $6.5k (exactly $6,472) riinwin

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.