Do I ship it?

GamesLooter ShooterLooter Shooter + Hidden Object

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Hidden Object Looter Shooter?

Looter Shooter + Hidden Object

Only 7 developers shipped a Hidden Object Looter Shooter 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, LIFE EFFECT Survival, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 10 more are announced, ×10.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 8 / 10 build.

Only 1 developer shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $560 against a market of $1.5k. 10 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 10 announced, ×10.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Looter Shooter + Hidden Object
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 7
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $6.3k → $3.3k → $980
Outcomes for Looter Shooter + Hidden Object: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 7
Bottom 30% $180 (exactly $180)
Median $564 (exactly $564)
Top 25% $125k (exactly $124,871)
Top 5% $219k (exactly $219,454)
Developers, 2 yr 7
Released games 28
Announced 10
Effort 8 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $4.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 85% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Looter Shooter
effort 8 / 10 · low · online co-op and a loot economy on top of a shooter
Hidden Object
effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
Looter Shooter, Hidden Object
Price point
$4.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 70% positive over 1,161 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $560, 1 in 4 over $120k, 1 in 20 over $210k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 10 games are announced against 1 developer who shipped in the last year, ×10.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + MechsFair13 devs · median $219k · 14 announced
  2. + Vehicular CombatFair11 devs · median $15k · 14 announced
  3. + IdlerFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 8 announced
  4. + 3D PlatformerLong shot23 devs · median $449 · 16 announced
  5. + Extraction ShooterPoor odds31 devs · median $71k · 73 announced
  6. + Online Co-OpPoor odds54 devs · median $25k · 136 announced
  7. + Co-opPoor odds56 devs · median $25k · 124 announced
  8. + Twin Stick ShooterPoor odds18 devs · median $16k · 44 announced
  9. + DystopianPoor odds14 devs · median $10k · 45 announced
  10. + Base BuildingPoor odds36 devs · median $9.1k · 74 announced
  11. + Character CustomizationPoor odds50 devs · median $9.0k · 151 announced
  12. + Inventory ManagementPoor odds27 devs · median $6.9k · 61 announced

All 90 pairs on the Looter Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
LIFE EFFECT Survival · EA $14.99 488 85% 15k $219k (exactly $219,454) LIFE EFFECT
Afterinfection $8.99 463 56% 14k $125k (exactly $124,871) RePatrick21
Cave Digger 2 Dig Harder older $15.99 81 88% 2.4k $39k (exactly $38,856) VRKiwi
FEAR background older $9.99 23 13% 690 $6.9k (exactly $6,893) 5K Gamers
Gloomy Village older $4.99 46 58% 1.4k $6.9k (exactly $6,886) Sancta Maledicta
Cave Digger 2 older $14.99 14 64% 420 $6.3k (exactly $6,296) VRKiwi
The One · EA older $9.99 19 63% 570 $5.7k (exactly $5,694) PolyLS
Ma3 older $9.99 13 69% 390 $3.9k (exactly $3,896) Matheesan, Ahila
Delivery Boy older $9.99 11 63% 330 $3.3k (exactly $3,297) Poroshin Develop
The Thief older $19.99 3 33% 90 $1.8k (exactly $1,799) GamesBraz
The Memological Dungeon $0.99 33 90% 990 $980 (exactly $980) Gamesforfarm
The Island of Thugs $0.99 19 78% 570 $564 (exactly $564) Big Green Platypus
Desperate Travelers $5.99 1 100% 30 $180 (exactly $180) Microlab
Trytka $1.99 1 0% 30 $60 (exactly $60) Trytka Games
SOMEWHERE · EA $4.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) SISTEMATIK STUDIO

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