Games › Loot › Loot + Simulation
Should I ship a Loot Simulation game?
Loot + Simulation
Of 173 developers who shipped a Loot Simulation 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.. 291 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×4.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $380k, ×608 the market median. Revenue is up 145% on the market; 291 games are announced against 123 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $898 (exactly $898) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,703) |
| Top 25% | $31k (exactly $30,786) |
| Top 5% | $382k (exactly $381,838) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 173 |
| Released games | 359 |
| Announced | 291 |
| 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 145% on the market, supply 130% 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
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot, Simulation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Idler, Economy
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 69% positive over 77,852 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 7 in 10 of the 71 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 291 games are announced against 123 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 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
EVERSPACE™ 2 2023 · $18M 
ZERO Sievert 2024 · $8.6M 
DYSMANTLE 2021 · $6.6M 
War for the Overworld 2015 · $5.8M 
河洛群俠傳 (Ho Tu Lo Shu ： The Books of Dragon) 2018 · $5.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | EVERSPACE™ 2 | older | $49.99 | 12,040 85% | 361k | $18M (exactly $18,056,388) | ROCKFISH Games |
| | ZERO Sievert | $19.99 | 14,378 84% | 431k | $8.6M (exactly $8,622,487) | CABO Studio | |
| | DYSMANTLE | older | $19.99 | 11,022 91% | 331k | $6.6M (exactly $6,609,893) | 10tons Ltd |
| | War for the Overworld | older | $29.99 | 6,495 85% | 195k | $5.8M (exactly $5,843,552) | Brightrock Games |
| | 河洛群俠傳 (Ho Tu Lo Shu ： The Books of Dragon) | older | $17.99 | 9,616 81% | 288k | $5.2M (exactly $5,189,755) | 香港商河洛互動娛樂股份有限公司 |
 | 龙胤立志传 | $19.99 | 7,153 77% | 215k | $4.3M (exactly $4,289,654) | TPP Studio | |
 | Home Behind 2 | older | $19.99 | 6,585 86% | 198k | $3.9M (exactly $3,949,024) | TPP Studio |
 | Storage Hunter Simulator | $24.99 | 3,866 78% | 116k | $2.9M (exactly $2,898,340) | Raccoons Studio | |
 | A Game About Digging A Hole™ | $4.99 | 18,785 89% | 564k | $2.8M (exactly $2,812,114) | DoubleBee | |
 | Pixel Piracy | older | $14.99 | 5,713 65% | 171k | $2.6M (exactly $2,569,136) | Vitali Kirpu |
 | BidKing | $2.99 | 22,238 33% | 667k | $2.0M (exactly $1,994,749) | MindSurge Network & Games | |
 | DUCKSIDE | · EA | $14.99 | 2,692 72% | 81k | $1.2M (exactly $1,210,592) | tinyBuild Riga |
 | Multiverse Loot Hunter | $11.99 | 2,585 80% | 78k | $930k (exactly $929,824) | 游戏养家工作室 | |
 | Fortune Mill | $7.99 | 3,712 81% | 111k | $890k (exactly $889,766) | Lavaflame2 | |
 | My Wife Threw Out My Card Collection (So I Bought a Dump to Find Them All) ⭐ | $7.95 | 1,601 65% | 48k | $382k (exactly $381,838) | Polnoch | |
 | Granvir | $14.99 | 842 90% | 25k | $379k (exactly $378,647) | Airborne Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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