Games › Loot › Loot + Post-apocalyptic
Should I ship a Post-apocalyptic Loot game?
Loot + Post-apocalyptic
Of 69 developers who shipped a Post-apocalyptic Loot 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.. 164 more are announced, ×4.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.5k, ×10 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.2k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.2M, ×1928 the market median. Revenue is up 560% on the market; 164 games are announced against 35 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.2k (exactly $1,197) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.5k (exactly $6,475) |
| Top 25% | $75k (exactly $74,650) |
| Top 5% | $1.2M (exactly $1,210,592) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 69 |
| Released games | 162 |
| Announced | 164 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 560% on the market, supply as many developers as 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
- Post-apocalyptic
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 47,757 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.2k. 7 in 10 of the 38 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 164 games are announced against 35 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Loot with a different setting or mood, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Grim Dawn | older | $24.99 | 92,979 93% | 2.8M | $70M (exactly $69,706,356) | Crate Entertainment |
| | Tom Clancy’s The Division® 2 | older | $29.99 | 32,600 79% | 978k | $29M (exactly $29,330,220) | Ubisoft |
| | OUTRIDERS | older | $19.99 | 46,146 66% | 1.4M | $28M (exactly $27,673,756) | People Can Fly |
| | Deadzone: Rogue | $24.99 | 15,041 82% | 451k | $11M (exactly $11,276,238) | Prophecy Games | |
| | DAEMON X MACHINA | older | $49.99 | 6,172 85% | 185k | $9.3M (exactly $9,256,148) | Marvelous Inc. |
| | SurrounDead | · EA older | $11.99 | 24,538 91% | 736k | $8.8M (exactly $8,826,319) | Zurvivor |
| | ZERO Sievert | $19.99 | 14,378 84% | 431k | $8.6M (exactly $8,622,487) | CABO Studio | |
| | Road to Vostok | · EA | $19.99 | 8,646 84% | 259k | $5.2M (exactly $5,185,006) | Road to Vostok Ltd. |
| | DeadPoly | · EA older | $9.99 | 5,384 78% | 162k | $1.6M (exactly $1,613,585) | TFL Games |
| | DUCKSIDE | · EA | $14.99 | 2,692 72% | 81k | $1.2M (exactly $1,210,592) | tinyBuild Riga |
| | Total Chaos | $24.99 | 1,561 86% | 47k | $1.2M (exactly $1,170,282) | Trigger Happy Interactive | |
| | The Midnight Walkers | · EA | $19.99 | 1,479 54% | 44k | $887k (exactly $886,956) | Oneway Ticket Studio |
| | GRAIN ROT | $9.99 | 1,845 88% | 55k | $553k (exactly $552,946) | Beck & Branch Games | |
| | Survive the Fall | $24.99 | 590 65% | 18k | $442k (exactly $442,323) | Angry Bulls Studio | |
| | Project L33T: Founders Edition | $19.99 | 525 47% | 16k | $315k (exactly $314,842) | Targetpoint Interactive, Holmgard Games | |
| | Another Try 2 | · EA | $6.99 | 1,000 53% | 30k | $210k (exactly $209,700) | Hoki Wolf Studio |
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.