Do I ship it?

Games › Loot › Loot + Traditional Roguelike

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Loot Traditional Roguelike?

Loot + Traditional Roguelike

Of 22 developers who shipped a Loot Traditional Roguelike 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.. 35 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $960, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $78k, ×125 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 35 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 95% on the market, 35 announced, ×2.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Loot + Traditional Roguelike
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 22
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $5.4k → $21k → $955 → $1.4k (still earning) → $298 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Loot + Traditional Roguelike: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 22
Bottom 30% $179 (exactly $179)
Median $955 (exactly $955)
Top 25% $6.2k (exactly $6,232)
Top 5% $79k (exactly $78,523)
Developers, 2 yr 22
Released games 59
Announced 35
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 down 95% on the market, supply 165% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 3%, 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
Traditional Roguelike
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Loot, Traditional Roguelike; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Roguelike, Dungeon Crawler
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 9,342 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $960, 1 in 4 over $6.2k, 1 in 20 over $78k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 35 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 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

Elin 2024 · EA · $5.0M Tales of Maj'Eyal 2013 · $1.3M Shattered Pixel Dungeon 2022 · $631k Dungeonmans 2014 · $490k Tangledeep 2018 · $483k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Elin · EA $19.99 8,406 93% 252k $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) Lafrontier
Tales of Maj'Eyal older $6.99 6,320 94% 190k $1.3M (exactly $1,325,304) Netcore Games
Shattered Pixel Dungeon older $9.99 2,106 95% 63k $631k (exactly $631,168) Shattered Pixel
Dungeonmans older $14.99 1,089 90% 33k $490k (exactly $489,723) Adventurepro Games LLC
Tangledeep older $14.99 1,075 82% 32k $483k (exactly $483,428) Impact Gameworks
Sword of the Stars: The Pit older $9.99 1,132 83% 34k $339k (exactly $339,260) Kerberos Productions
Fate Seeker: Journey older $10.00 1,105 77% 33k $332k (exactly $331,500) JSL Entertainment
Desktop Dungeons: Rewind older $19.99 501 75% 15k $300k (exactly $300,450) QCF Design
Soulash older $14.99 513 69% 15k $231k (exactly $230,696) Artur Smiarowski
Rogue Fable III older $9.99 725 92% 22k $217k (exactly $217,282) Pixel Forge Games
Backpack Dungeon $3.99 656 87% 20k $79k (exactly $78,523) 夜喵
Lost in Prayer · EA $19.99 92 80% 2.8k $55k (exactly $55,172) Nine Dots Studio
Gods Wars : infinity Epic $9.99 70 77% 2.1k $21k (exactly $20,979) YCGame
Feywood Wanderers $14.99 37 86% 1.1k $17k (exactly $16,639) Vicente Miranda
Babel of Ystilia $7.99 26 100% 780 $6.2k (exactly $6,232) sundalik
InfinityMine · EA $8.99 16 68% 480 $4.3k (exactly $4,315) HayaseWorks
Tetra Dungeon $4.99 25 88% 750 $3.7k (exactly $3,742) 套鹿工作室
Theralite $10.99 6 100% 180 $2.0k (exactly $1,978) DualBitz
Asterogue $5.99 8 100% 240 $1.4k (exactly $1,438) Chris McCormick

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