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Should I ship a Loot Perma Death game?
Loot + Perma Death
Of 78 developers who shipped a Loot Perma Death 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.. 158 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.0k, ×3.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $1.1M, ×1853 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 158 games are announced against 50 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $539 (exactly $539) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.0k (exactly $1,978) |
| Top 25% | $15k (exactly $14,809) |
| Top 5% | $1.2M (exactly $1,163,824) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 78 |
| Released games | 215 |
| Announced | 158 |
| 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 up 30% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, 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
- Perma Death
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot, Perma Death; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Dungeon Crawler, RPG
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 24,789 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 34 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 158 games are announced against 50 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 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
Marauders 2022 · EA · $12M 
Road to Vostok 2026 · EA · $5.2M 
Elin 2024 · EA · $5.0M 
Hell Clock 2025 · $2.1M 
轮回修仙路 2023 · $1.5M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Marauders | · EA older | $29.99 | 13,505 68% | 405k | $12M (exactly $12,150,448) | Small Impact Games |
| | Road to Vostok | · EA | $19.99 | 8,646 84% | 259k | $5.2M (exactly $5,185,006) | Road to Vostok Ltd. |
| | Elin | · EA | $19.99 | 8,406 93% | 252k | $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) | Lafrontier |
| | Hell Clock | $19.99 | 3,535 82% | 106k | $2.1M (exactly $2,119,940) | Rogue Snail | |
| | 轮回修仙路 | older | $16.99 | 2,945 82% | 88k | $1.5M (exactly $1,501,066) | 烟水寒工作室 |
 | Tales of Maj'Eyal | older | $6.99 | 6,320 94% | 190k | $1.3M (exactly $1,325,304) | Netcore Games |
 | Ziggurat | older | $14.99 | 2,835 86% | 85k | $1.3M (exactly $1,274,900) | Milkstone Studios |
 | Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot | $14.99 | 2,588 82% | 78k | $1.2M (exactly $1,163,824) | Hamma Studios | |
 | Ancient Dungeon | · EA older | $19.99 | 1,608 95% | 48k | $964k (exactly $964,318) | Eric Thullen |
 | Spirit Realm | · EA older | $18.18 | 1,379 76% | 41k | $752k (exactly $752,107) | 深圳市灵境互娱科技有限公司 |
 | UNDERWARD | $9.99 | 593 73% | 18k | $178k (exactly $177,722) | INTENSE | |
 | 硬币与仙人掌 (Coins & Wishpalm) | $13.99 | 343 77% | 10k | $144k (exactly $143,957) | Moshow Games | |
 | Fracture Point | $19.99 | 158 81% | 4.7k | $95k (exactly $94,753) | Kyrylo Burlaka | |
 | Striving for Light | $17.99 | 172 74% | 5.2k | $93k (exactly $92,828) | Igniting Spark Games | |
 | Lost For Swords | $9.99 | 248 89% | 7.4k | $74k (exactly $74,326) | MaxBytes | |
 | Trials of Valor | $18.99 | 100 95% | 3.0k | $57k (exactly $56,970) | Armored Goblin |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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