Games › Loot › Loot + Management
Should I ship a Loot Management game?
Loot + Management
Of 95 developers who shipped a Loot 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.. 206 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $510k, ×813 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 206 games are announced against 72 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,936) |
| Top 25% | $30k (exactly $29,667) |
| Top 5% | $511k (exactly $510,859) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 95 |
| Released games | 173 |
| Announced | 206 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 175% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, 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
- Management
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot, Management; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Idler, Strategy
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 31,777 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 7 in 10 of the 30 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 206 games are announced against 72 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 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
War for the Overworld 2015 · $5.8M 
龙胤立志传 2026 · $4.3M 
Storage Hunter Simulator 2025 · $2.9M 
Dragon Cliff 2018 · $2.3M 
Keep on Mining! 2025 · $1.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | War for the Overworld | older | $29.99 | 6,495 85% | 195k | $5.8M (exactly $5,843,552) | Brightrock Games |
| | 龙胤立志传 | $19.99 | 7,153 77% | 215k | $4.3M (exactly $4,289,654) | TPP Studio | |
| | Storage Hunter Simulator | $24.99 | 3,866 78% | 116k | $2.9M (exactly $2,898,340) | Raccoons Studio | |
| | Dragon Cliff | older | $9.99 | 7,679 88% | 230k | $2.3M (exactly $2,301,396) | Meta Interaction |
| | Keep on Mining! | $4.99 | 8,300 93% | 249k | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,510) | EagleEye Games | |
 | Fortune Mill | $7.99 | 3,712 81% | 111k | $890k (exactly $889,766) | Lavaflame2 | |
 | Knightica | $14.99 | 1,136 74% | 34k | $511k (exactly $510,859) | Mad Mango Games | |
 | Keep on Mining! - Worlds | $6.99 | 1,899 80% | 57k | $398k (exactly $398,220) | EagleEye Games | |
 | Loot of Baal | $8.99 | 1,372 62% | 41k | $370k (exactly $370,028) | Gleamer Studio | |
 | Jacksmith: Weapons and Warriors | $5.99 | 1,897 97% | 57k | $341k (exactly $340,891) | Flipline Studios | |
 | Loot Loop | $4.99 | 1,701 93% | 51k | $255k (exactly $254,640) | BitBrew | |
 | Hole Is Mine | $7.99 | 741 90% | 22k | $178k (exactly $177,618) | Incrementalist |
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.