Games › Loot › Loot + Historical
Should I ship a Historical Loot game?
Loot + Historical
Of 21 developers who shipped a Historical Loot 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.. 30 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×3.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $2.6M, ×4237 the market median. Revenue is up 385% on the market; 30 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $629 (exactly $629) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,156) |
| Top 25% | $26k (exactly $26,422) |
| Top 5% | $2.7M (exactly $2,660,990) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 21 |
| Released games | 57 |
| Announced | 30 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 385% on the market, supply 10% more developers than 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.
- Loot
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Historical
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Character Customization, Inventory Management, RPG
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $34.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $34.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 23,113 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Loot with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds
- + Local Co-OpStrong odds
- + SteampunkStrong odds
- + CapitalismFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + JRPGFair
- + EconomyFair
- + IdlerFair
- + CatsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + CollectathonFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition | older | $49.99 | 33,892 87% | 1.0M | $51M (exactly $50,827,832) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
| | Nioh: Complete Edition | older | $49.99 | 29,580 78% | 887k | $44M (exactly $44,361,126) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
| | Titan Quest II | · EA | $34.99 | 17,398 81% | 522k | $18M (exactly $18,262,681) | Grimlore Games |
| | NORSE: Oath of Blood | $34.99 | 2,535 56% | 76k | $2.7M (exactly $2,660,990) | Arctic Hazard | |
| | Achilles: Legends Untold | older | $24.99 | 2,149 77% | 64k | $1.6M (exactly $1,611,105) | Dark Point Games |
| | Ukrainian Warfare: Gostomel Heroes | $14.99 | 1,921 90% | 58k | $864k (exactly $863,874) | Cats Who Play | |
| | Shadowhand: RPG Card Game | older | $16.99 | 668 82% | 20k | $340k (exactly $340,480) | Grey Alien Games |
| | Fate Seeker: Journey | older | $10.00 | 1,105 77% | 33k | $332k (exactly $331,500) | JSL Entertainment |
| | Tales of Spark | · EA older | $13.99 | 569 75% | 17k | $239k (exactly $238,809) | Ice and Fire Isle Studio |
| | Concubine | · EA | $14.99 | 517 81% | 16k | $232k (exactly $232,495) | Upgrade Entertainment |
| | Warlords Battleground: Extraction | $11.99 | 525 84% | 16k | $189k (exactly $188,842) | 绝汪 | |
| | Three Kingdoms Heroes | $6.99 | 126 81% | 3.8k | $26k (exactly $26,422) | 青衣工作室 | |
| | Tribe Nation | $9.99 | 24 79% | 720 | $7.2k (exactly $7,193) | Random Worlds s.r.o. | |
| | Cloud Keeper: Shrine of Dal | · EA | $6.99 | 28 100% | 840 | $5.9k (exactly $5,872) | Jetpackgone |
| | Gunslinger Express | $4.99 | 20 75% | 600 | $3.0k (exactly $2,994) | Glinnor | |
| | Regnum Idle | $4.99 | 19 63% | 570 | $2.8k (exactly $2,844) | Vexos Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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