Do I ship it?

Games › JRPG › JRPG + Inventory Management

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Inventory Management JRPG?

JRPG + Inventory Management

Of 25 developers who shipped an Inventory Management JRPG 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.. 29 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $210k, ×343 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 29 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 80% on the market, 29 announced, ×2.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
JRPG + Inventory Management
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 25
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $9.0k → $3.6k → $3.0k → $1.0k (still earning) → $90 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for JRPG + Inventory Management: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 25
Bottom 30% $479 (exactly $479)
Median $2.9k (exactly $2,875)
Top 25% $9.4k (exactly $9,440)
Top 5% $215k (exactly $215,484)
Developers, 2 yr 25
Released games 58
Announced 29
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $8.99

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 down 80% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, 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.

JRPG
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Inventory Management
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
JRPG, Inventory Management; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Adventure, Dungeon Crawler
Price point
$8.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Anime
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 1,969 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $480, median $2.9k, 1 in 4 over $9.4k, 1 in 20 over $210k.

3 in 10 developers made under $480. 9 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + FMVStrong odds12 devs · median $54k · 6 announced
  2. + Mystery DungeonStrong odds43 devs · median $21k · 23 announced
  3. + NinjaFair7 devs · median $19k · 10 announced
  4. + RomanceFair153 devs · median $13k · 164 announced
  5. + Visual NovelFair219 devs · median $13k · 265 announced
  6. + ManagementFair37 devs · median $9.4k · 35 announced
  7. + Souls-likeFair31 devs · median $8.6k · 35 announced
  8. + Point & ClickFair41 devs · median $8.4k · 45 announced
  9. + LootFair34 devs · median $5.5k · 41 announced
  10. + RoguelikeFair85 devs · median $5.2k · 103 announced
  11. + 2D PlatformerFair150 devs · median $4.2k · 157 announced
  12. + Artificial IntelligenceFair25 devs · median $4.0k · 21 announced

All 142 pairs on the JRPG page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Legends of Dragaea: Idle Dungeons 2025 · $293k Love n Life: Happy Student 2025 · $215k Time Break Chronicles 2020 · EA · $134k Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition 2024 · $38k Class of Heroes 2G: Remaster Edition 2024 · $33k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Legends of Dragaea: Idle Dungeons $9.99 976 86% 29k $293k (exactly $292,507) Blast Programming
Love n Life: Happy Student $9.99 719 81% 22k $215k (exactly $215,484) Reborn Entertainment
Time Break Chronicles · EA older $14.99 298 88% 8.9k $134k (exactly $134,011) Warrior General Games, LLC
Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition older $19.99 64 70% 1.9k $38k (exactly $38,381) Zerodiv
Class of Heroes 2G: Remaster Edition older $19.99 55 65% 1.7k $33k (exactly $32,984) Zerodiv
Machina of the Planet Tree -Unity Unions- older $18.99 42 66% 1.3k $24k (exactly $23,927) Denneko Yuugi
Merchant in Dungeon $8.99 84 76% 2.5k $23k (exactly $22,655) HexGameStudio
Grey Heritage: Faded Vision older $14.99 46 73% 1.4k $21k (exactly $20,686) BTrain Studio
The Chronicles of Lancelot 2 - The Adventure to Avalon $24.99 23 52% 690 $17k (exactly $17,243) Gayeti
Skills & Raids $9.99 50 66% 1.5k $15k (exactly $14,985) Eddie H.Hinestroza
Restore $8.99 42 76% 1.3k $11k (exactly $11,327) Momimomi Studio
Trial of lust $8.99 35 94% 1.1k $9.4k (exactly $9,440) Broken English
Grey Heritage: Noble Duty $19.99 12 91% 360 $7.2k (exactly $7,196) BTrain Studio
Money And Lady | 财貌双全 $9.99 20 35% 600 $6.0k (exactly $5,994) Happy DLC Studio
Rogue Zodiacs $19.99 8 87% 240 $4.8k (exactly $4,798) QueL Games

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