Games › Perma Death › Perma Death + Incremental
Should I ship a Perma Death Incremental game?
Perma Death + Incremental
Of 32 developers who shipped a Perma Death Incremental 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.. 28 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, level with the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $180. Revenue is up 550% on the market; 28 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $478 (exactly $478) |
| Top 25% | $2.7k (exactly $2,695) |
| Top 5% | $44k (exactly $44,356) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 32 |
| Released games | 62 |
| Announced | 28 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 550% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Perma Death
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Perma Death, Incremental; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Dungeon Crawler, RPG
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 763 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 28 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Perma Death with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + LGBTQ+Strong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + PiratesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + 3D PlatformerFair
Comparable games
Ancient Cultivatrix 2025 · $65k 
Identifile: Desktop Dungeon 2025 · EA · $44k 
Clicker Arena 2024 · $26k 
Cocaine Dealer 2021 · EA · $13k 
Neon Ascending 2025 · $11k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ancient Cultivatrix | $8.99 | 240 67% | 7.2k | $65k (exactly $64,728) | 五条虾仁(5 shrimps) | |
| | Identifile: Desktop Dungeon | · EA | $9.99 | 148 91% | 4.4k | $44k (exactly $44,356) | Gearbyte Games |
| | Clicker Arena | older | $8.99 | 97 51% | 2.9k | $26k (exactly $26,161) | James Sun |
| | Cocaine Dealer | · EA older | $3.99 | 109 80% | 3.3k | $13k (exactly $13,047) | Stone/Spark Games |
| | Neon Ascending | $3.99 | 90 82% | 2.7k | $11k (exactly $10,773) | TheCarmineDepth | |
 | Numgeon | older | $4.99 | 66 78% | 2.0k | $9.9k (exactly $9,880) | FobTi interactive |
 | Loot Dungeon | $6.99 | 44 54% | 1.3k | $9.2k (exactly $9,227) | Electric Kite | |
 | One More 6ix | $1.99 | 147 99% | 4.4k | $8.8k (exactly $8,776) | Crazish Games | |
 | Street karate 3 | older | $4.99 | 55 80% | 1.7k | $8.2k (exactly $8,234) | Essential Tactics Games |
 | Space Candy | older | $4.99 | 47 72% | 1.4k | $7.0k (exactly $7,036) | High and Wide |
 | The Ash Remembers | $11.99 | 18 88% | 540 | $6.5k (exactly $6,475) | Veyr Works | |
 | SideQuest Hunters | $4.99 | 35 71% | 1.1k | $5.2k (exactly $5,240) | Paparajote Games | |
 | Sweepin' XS | $4.99 | 18 100% | 540 | $2.7k (exactly $2,695) | FungalVoiid | |
 | Fortiori | $8.40 | 9 100% | 270 | $2.3k (exactly $2,268) | 79GAMES | |
 | Clicker Conquest | $4.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) | Phillip Hubbard |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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