Games › Loot › Loot + Underground
Should I ship an Underground Loot game?
Loot + Underground
Of 37 developers who shipped an Underground 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.. 67 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $960; 1 in 20 cleared $350k, ×561 the market median. Revenue is up 45% on the market; 67 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $960 (exactly $960) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,876) |
| Top 25% | $7.4k (exactly $7,431) |
| Top 5% | $352k (exactly $352,086) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 37 |
| Released games | 75 |
| Announced | 67 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 45% on the market, supply 170% 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
- Underground
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Mining, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 22,470 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $960. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 67 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 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
War for the Overworld 2015 · $5.8M 
A Game About Digging A Hole™ 2025 · $2.8M 
Never Return 2021 · EA · $610k 
Super Motherload 2014 · $353k 
Meltopia 2026 · $352k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | War for the Overworld | older | $29.99 | 6,495 85% | 195k | $5.8M (exactly $5,843,552) | Brightrock Games |
| | A Game About Digging A Hole™ | $4.99 | 18,785 89% | 564k | $2.8M (exactly $2,812,114) | DoubleBee | |
| | Never Return | · EA older | $13.99 | 1,453 73% | 44k | $610k (exactly $609,824) | YeMuNetWork |
| | 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 | |
 | Below the Stone | · EA older | $14.99 | 391 83% | 12k | $176k (exactly $175,833) | Strollart |
 | Ants Took My Eyeball | older | $12.99 | 248 93% | 7.4k | $97k (exactly $96,646) | Bosmic Forge |
 | Backpack Dungeon | $3.99 | 656 87% | 20k | $79k (exactly $78,523) | 夜喵 | |
 | DigDigDrill | $3.99 | 607 95% | 18k | $73k (exactly $72,658) | Toorai | |
 | Miner: Dig Deep | older | $6.99 | 242 91% | 7.3k | $51k (exactly $50,747) | Substance Games |
 | DUNGEON RAZE | $2.99 | 458 85% | 14k | $41k (exactly $41,083) | KOTARO YOSHIDA | |
 | Drill and Delve | $8.99 | 108 87% | 3.2k | $29k (exactly $29,128) | noOne | |
 | OREBLAZE | $4.99 | 64 92% | 1.9k | $9.6k (exactly $9,581) | Ludiminal Games | |
 | Loot Dungeon | $6.99 | 44 54% | 1.3k | $9.2k (exactly $9,227) | Electric Kite | |
 | Cozy Mining | $6.99 | 38 76% | 1.1k | $8.0k (exactly $7,969) | tatsumaki games | |
 | Rift Miner | $7.99 | 31 93% | 930 | $7.4k (exactly $7,431) | TIDERAFT |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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