Games › JRPG › JRPG + Roguelite
Should I ship a Roguelite JRPG?
JRPG + Roguelite
Of 84 developers who shipped a Roguelite 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.. 129 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $7.8k, ×12 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.4k; 1 in 20 cleared $400k, ×647 the market median. Revenue is up 60% on the market; 129 games are announced against 53 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.4k (exactly $2,394) |
|---|---|
| Median | $7.8k (exactly $7,794) |
| Top 25% | $42k (exactly $42,085) |
| Top 5% | $407k (exactly $406,597) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 84 |
| Released games | 217 |
| Announced | 129 |
| 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 60% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- JRPG, Roguelite; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Roguelike, Dungeon Crawler
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Anime, 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 11,548 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.4k. 8 in 10 of the 34 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 129 games are announced against 53 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
JRPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + NinjaFair
- + RomanceFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + ManagementFair
- + Souls-likeFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LootFair
- + RoguelikeFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Yog-Sothoth’s Yard | older | $10.99 | 10,207 93% | 306k | $3.4M (exactly $3,365,248) | Bone Nail |
| | 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 |
| | NEOVERSE | older | $19.99 | 2,882 84% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,728,335) | Tinogames Inc. |
| | Touhou Hero of Ice Fairy | older | $6.99 | 7,714 97% | 231k | $1.6M (exactly $1,617,626) | GAMEPULSE 游戏脉冲 |
| | Cuisineer | older | $24.99 | 1,820 76% | 55k | $1.4M (exactly $1,364,454) | BattleBrew Productions |
| | 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 |
| | Endless Alice | · EA | $8.99 | 2,307 91% | 69k | $622k (exactly $622,198) | HowlingRain, 台灣響雨互娛, 響雨@OSAKA |
| | 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 | |
| | Fox Sex Farm | $17.99 | 413 82% | 12k | $223k (exactly $222,896) | R's | |
| | Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade | $13.99 | 503 59% | 15k | $211k (exactly $211,109) | 7QUARK | |
| | Touhou Blooming Soul | · EA | $5.99 | 911 96% | 27k | $164k (exactly $163,707) | 二色幽紫蝶 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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