Do I ship it?

Games › JRPG › JRPG + Roguelike

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Roguelike JRPG?

JRPG + Roguelike

Of 85 developers who shipped a Roguelike 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.. 103 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $5.2k, ×8.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $2.0k. Revenue is up 40% on the market; 103 games are announced against 54 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 8.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 40% on the market, 103 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
JRPG + Roguelike
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 85
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $9.0k → $20k → $15k → $6.0k → $9.7k → $2.9k → $19k (still earning) → $2.0k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for JRPG + Roguelike: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 85
Bottom 30% $1.9k (exactly $1,918)
Median $5.2k (exactly $5,242)
Top 25% $31k (exactly $31,029)
Top 5% $407k (exactly $406,597)
Developers, 2 yr 85
Released games 237
Announced 103
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $9.99

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 40% on the market, supply 70% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.

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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
Roguelike
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, Roguelike; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Roguelite, Dungeon Crawler
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Anime
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 17,213 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $2.0k, median $5.2k, 1 in 4 over $31k, 1 in 20 over $400k.

3 in 10 developers made under $2.0k. 8 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 103 games are announced against 54 developers who shipped in the last year.

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. + 2D PlatformerFair150 devs · median $4.2k · 157 announced
  11. + Artificial IntelligenceFair25 devs · median $4.0k · 21 announced
  12. + Resource ManagementFair36 devs · median $2.7k · 27 announced

All 142 pairs on the JRPG page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Elin 2024 · EA · $5.0M Fear & Hunger 2019 · $5.0M Aethermancer 2025 · EA · $2.0M Star Renegades 2020 · $2.0M Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend 2022 · EA · $1.8M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Elin · EA $19.99 8,406 93% 252k $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) Lafrontier
Fear & Hunger older $7.99 20,881 94% 626k $5.0M (exactly $5,005,176) Miro Haverinen
Aethermancer · EA $25.99 2,585 91% 78k $2.0M (exactly $2,015,524) moi rai games
Star Renegades older $24.99 2,673 82% 80k $2.0M (exactly $2,003,948) Massive Damage, Inc.
Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend · EA older $29.99 2,036 92% 61k $1.8M (exactly $1,831,789) Alioth Studio
Touhou Genso Wanderer -Reloaded- older $34.99 1,734 93% 52k $1.8M (exactly $1,820,180) AQUASTYLE
NEOVERSE older $19.99 2,882 84% 86k $1.7M (exactly $1,728,335) Tinogames Inc.
Little Noah: Scion of Paradise older $14.99 2,172 92% 65k $977k (exactly $976,748) Cygames, Inc., Grounding Inc.
Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch $24.99 1,293 81% 39k $969k (exactly $969,362) Ocean Drive Studio, Inc.
Escape Dungeon 2 older $17.99 1,700 93% 51k $917k (exactly $917,490) Hide Games
The Shimmering Horizon and Cursed Blacksmith $19.99 983 58% 29k $590k (exactly $589,505) Ason
Nigate Tale $19.99 678 67% 20k $407k (exactly $406,597) Hermit Games, 2P Games
Witch's Apocalyptic Journey $8.99 1,282 84% 38k $346k (exactly $345,755) MeowAlive
Rogue Voltage $15.99 593 92% 18k $284k (exactly $284,462) Horizont Computergrafik
Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade $13.99 503 59% 15k $211k (exactly $211,109) 7QUARK
House of Necrosis $11.99 581 94% 17k $209k (exactly $208,986) Warkus
THYSIASTERY $17.49 309 80% 9.3k $162k (exactly $162,132) DIRGA

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