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Should I ship a Roguelike Deckbuilder Management game?
Management + Roguelike Deckbuilder
Of 42 developers who shipped a Roguelike Deckbuilder Management 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.. 63 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $12k, ×19 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $3.6k; 1 in 20 cleared $280k, ×453 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 63 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $3.6k (exactly $3,565) |
|---|---|
| Median | $12k (exactly $11,680) |
| Top 25% | $104k (exactly $104,011) |
| Top 5% | $284k (exactly $284,462) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 42 |
| Released games | 57 |
| Announced | 63 |
| 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 down 70% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 4%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Management
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Roguelike Deckbuilder
- effort 3 / 10 · high · deckbuilding rules plus procedural runs
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Management, Roguelike Deckbuilder; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Deckbuilding, Roguelike
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.49 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.49 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 5,602 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $3.6k. 4 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 63 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Management with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RomeFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + WesternFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + RhythmFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + 3D FighterFair
- + IncrementalFair
Comparable games
Luck be a Landlord 2023 · $3.1M 
Banners of Ruin 2021 · $1.4M 
Cardboard Town 2023 · $1.2M 
Tower Tactics: Liberation 2023 · $734k 
Cat God Ranch 2024 · $549k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Luck be a Landlord | older | $9.99 | 10,213 93% | 306k | $3.1M (exactly $3,060,836) | TrampolineTales |
| | Banners of Ruin | older | $19.99 | 2,298 79% | 69k | $1.4M (exactly $1,378,111) | MonteBearo |
| | Cardboard Town | older | $19.99 | 2,051 79% | 62k | $1.2M (exactly $1,229,985) | Stratera Games, cukuto |
| | Tower Tactics: Liberation | older | $19.99 | 1,224 88% | 37k | $734k (exactly $734,033) | asraworks |
| | Cat God Ranch | older | $9.99 | 1,831 92% | 55k | $549k (exactly $548,751) | CrazyPotato Studio |
 | Combolands: Roguelike Citybuilder | $9.99 | 1,244 97% | 37k | $373k (exactly $372,827) | Crux Games | |
 | Aotenjo: Infinite Hands | · EA | $9.99 | 958 87% | 29k | $287k (exactly $287,113) | XO Cat |
 | Rogue Voltage | $15.99 | 593 92% | 18k | $284k (exactly $284,462) | Horizont Computergrafik | |
 | Turnbound | $14.99 | 446 78% | 13k | $201k (exactly $200,566) | 1TK | |
 | Terracards | · EA older | $8.99 | 733 84% | 22k | $198k (exactly $197,690) | Pixel Purrfect |
 | Cropdeck | $12.99 | 430 92% | 13k | $168k (exactly $167,571) | Piotrek | |
 | Rogue Hex | $19.99 | 260 89% | 7.8k | $156k (exactly $155,922) | Topstitch Games | |
 | Kingdom's Deck | $9.99 | 495 72% | 15k | $148k (exactly $148,352) | Ivan Aco | |
 | Spin Hero | $7.99 | 573 73% | 17k | $137k (exactly $137,348) | Sphere Studios | |
 | Frostrain 2 | $10.99 | 374 89% | 11k | $123k (exactly $123,308) | nemonan | |
 | BLOODLETTER | $15.49 | 229 79% | 6.9k | $106k (exactly $106,416) | ALDAMAMI GAMES |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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