Games › Loot › Loot + Inventory Management
Should I ship a Loot Inventory Management game?
Loot + Inventory Management
Of 141 developers who shipped a Loot Inventory Management 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.. 314 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $7.9k, ×13 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $860k, ×1376 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 314 games are announced against 101 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,485) |
|---|---|
| Median | $7.9k (exactly $7,910) |
| Top 25% | $56k (exactly $55,744) |
| Top 5% | $864k (exactly $863,874) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 141 |
| Released games | 275 |
| Announced | 314 |
| 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 down 35% on the market, supply 155% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, 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
- Inventory Management
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot, Inventory Management; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Roguelite, Action
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 233,104 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 6 in 10 of the 50 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 314 games are announced against 101 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Loot with a different second tag, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Path of Exile 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 167,730 76% | 5.0M | $151M (exactly $150,906,681) | Grinding Gear Games |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr | older | $49.99 | 19,552 75% | 587k | $29M (exactly $29,322,134) | NeocoreGames |
| | Titan Quest II | · EA | $34.99 | 17,398 81% | 522k | $18M (exactly $18,262,681) | Grimlore Games |
| | Backpack Battles | $14.99 | 18,933 91% | 568k | $8.5M (exactly $8,514,170) | PlayWithFurcifer | |
| | Road to Vostok | · EA | $19.99 | 8,646 84% | 259k | $5.2M (exactly $5,185,006) | Road to Vostok Ltd. |
| | Death Must Die | · EA older | $6.99 | 20,937 90% | 628k | $4.4M (exactly $4,390,489) | Realm Archive |
| | Home Behind 2 | older | $19.99 | 6,585 86% | 198k | $3.9M (exactly $3,949,024) | TPP Studio |
| | FlyKnight | $5.99 | 10,432 96% | 313k | $1.9M (exactly $1,874,630) | Wabbaboy | |
| | Achilles: Legends Untold | older | $24.99 | 2,149 77% | 64k | $1.6M (exactly $1,611,105) | Dark Point Games |
| | Deadly Days: Roadtrip | · EA | $14.99 | 2,855 87% | 86k | $1.3M (exactly $1,283,894) | Pixelsplit |
| | Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot | $14.99 | 2,588 82% | 78k | $1.2M (exactly $1,163,824) | Hamma Studios | |
| | Ukrainian Warfare: Gostomel Heroes | $14.99 | 1,921 90% | 58k | $864k (exactly $863,874) | Cats Who Play | |
| | Raiders of Blackveil | · EA | $19.99 | 1,353 60% | 41k | $811k (exactly $811,394) | Wombo Games |
| | Lootbound | $14.99 | 1,248 77% | 37k | $561k (exactly $561,226) | ArtDock |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.