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Should I ship a Perma Death Mystery Dungeon?
Mystery Dungeon + Perma Death
Of 27 developers who shipped a Perma Death Mystery Dungeon 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.. 29 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×5.7 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $1.2k. Revenue is up 100% on the market; 29 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $12,142) |
| Top 5% | $598k (exactly $598,388) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 27 |
| Released games | 77 |
| Announced | 29 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 100% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Mystery Dungeon
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Perma Death
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Mystery Dungeon, Perma Death; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Dungeon Crawler, RPG, Roguelike
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Atmospheric, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 11,107 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.2k. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Mystery Dungeon with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGStrong odds
- + TacticalStrong odds
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + RomanceFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SimulationFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + PhysicsFair
- + ThrillerFair
Comparable games
Elin 2024 · EA · $5.0M 
Shattered Pixel Dungeon 2022 · $631k 
Spark in the Dark 2026 · EA · $598k 
One Way Heroics 2014 · $367k 
House of Necrosis 2025 · $209k | 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 |
| | Shattered Pixel Dungeon | older | $9.99 | 2,106 95% | 63k | $631k (exactly $631,168) | Shattered Pixel |
| | Spark in the Dark | · EA | $16.99 | 1,174 87% | 35k | $598k (exactly $598,388) | Stellar Fish |
| | One Way Heroics | older | $3.49 | 3,503 94% | 105k | $367k (exactly $366,764) | Smoking WOLF |
| | House of Necrosis | $11.99 | 581 94% | 17k | $209k (exactly $208,986) | Warkus | |
 | Touhou ~Red Empress Devil. | $8.99 | 438 70% | 13k | $118k (exactly $118,129) | STUDIO POCO | |
 | Slot & Dungeons | $8.99 | 304 83% | 9.1k | $82k (exactly $81,989) | MUC GAMES | |
 | Skeletal Avenger | older | $16.99 | 158 82% | 4.7k | $81k (exactly $80,533) | 10tons Ltd |
 | One More Dungeon 2 | older | $14.99 | 144 81% | 4.3k | $65k (exactly $64,757) | Stately Snail |
 | Runehaven | $9.99 | 119 91% | 3.6k | $36k (exactly $35,664) | Cikoria Studio | |
 | Rusty Rangers | $14.99 | 27 88% | 810 | $12k (exactly $12,142) | Fantastica! | |
 | Onychomp : Lush journey | $12.99 | 18 100% | 540 | $7.0k (exactly $7,015) | Howl Studio | |
 | Monster Lily | $14.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $6.3k (exactly $6,296) | Kasha Club | |
 | Cursed Halls | $6.99 | 26 92% | 780 | $5.5k (exactly $5,452) | Souls Alive Development |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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