Do I ship it?

Games › Loot › Loot + Mining

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Loot Mining game?

Loot + Mining

Of 69 developers who shipped a Loot Mining 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.. 102 more are announced, ×2.0 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 $1.2k; 1 in 20 cleared $350k, ×561 the market median. Revenue is up 275% on the market; 102 games are announced against 50 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 275% on the market, 102 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Loot + Mining
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 69
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $239 → $1.6k → $899 → $6.0k → $599 → $4.9k → $6.1k (still earning) → $4.8k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Loot + Mining: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 69
Bottom 30% $1.2k (exactly $1,199)
Median $2.9k (exactly $2,936)
Top 25% $14k (exactly $13,772)
Top 5% $352k (exactly $352,086)
Developers, 2 yr 69
Released games 131
Announced 102
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 275% on the market, supply 150% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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.

Loot
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Mining
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Loot, Mining; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, Resource Management, Incremental
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, Relaxing, 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 88% positive over 35,689 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $1.2k, median $2.9k, 1 in 4 over $13k, 1 in 20 over $350k.

3 in 10 developers made under $1.2k. 8 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 102 games are announced against 50 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds28 devs · median $19k · 22 announced
  2. + Local Co-OpStrong odds22 devs · median $7.3k · 21 announced
  3. + SteampunkStrong odds7 devs · median $2.2k · 10 announced
  4. + CapitalismFair36 devs · median $14k · 52 announced
  5. + Turn-Based StrategyFair86 devs · median $6.3k · 97 announced
  6. + JRPGFair34 devs · median $5.5k · 41 announced
  7. + EconomyFair74 devs · median $4.6k · 114 announced
  8. + IdlerFair181 devs · median $4.5k · 256 announced
  9. + CatsFair17 devs · median $3.4k · 24 announced
  10. + IncrementalFair145 devs · median $2.9k · 236 announced
  11. + Creature CollectorFair51 devs · median $2.9k · 67 announced
  12. + CollectathonFair90 devs · median $1.9k · 95 announced

All 159 pairs on the Loot page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

A Game About Digging A Hole™ 2025 · $2.8M Star Valor 2022 · $2.5M Keep on Mining! 2025 · $1.2M Planet Centauri 2024 · $945k Keep on Mining! - Worlds 2026 · $398k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
A Game About Digging A Hole™ $4.99 18,785 89% 564k $2.8M (exactly $2,812,114) DoubleBee
Star Valor older $24.99 3,272 88% 98k $2.5M (exactly $2,453,018) Rafael Burgos
Keep on Mining! $4.99 8,300 93% 249k $1.2M (exactly $1,242,510) EagleEye Games
Planet Centauri $14.99 2,102 75% 63k $945k (exactly $945,269) Permadeath
Keep on Mining! - Worlds $6.99 1,899 80% 57k $398k (exactly $398,220) EagleEye Games
Super Motherload older $14.99 784 77% 24k $353k (exactly $352,565) XGen Studios
Meltopia $6.99 1,679 85% 50k $352k (exactly $352,086) Garden of Dreams
Prodigal older $14.99 584 91% 18k $263k (exactly $262,625) Colorgrave
BORE BLASTERS older $9.99 709 80% 21k $212k (exactly $212,487) 8BitSkull
Hole Is Mine $7.99 741 90% 22k $178k (exactly $177,618) Incrementalist
Zad Archery $6.99 803 73% 24k $168k (exactly $168,389) Samharia Studios
Vanguard Galaxy · EA $8.99 565 90% 17k $152k (exactly $152,380) Bat Roost Games
Smash Hit Museum $6.99 507 85% 15k $106k (exactly $106,318) InIt Games
Rocky Idle $9.99 308 83% 9.2k $92k (exactly $92,308) Rocky Games Studio

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