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Should I ship a Mystery Dungeon Resource Management game?
Resource Management + Mystery Dungeon
Only 19 developers shipped a Mystery Dungeon Resource Management game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, The Shimmering Horizon and Cursed Blacksmith, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $580k, ×1241 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 24 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $899 (exactly $899) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,587) |
| Top 5% | $590k (exactly $589,505) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 38 |
| Announced | 24 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 up 10% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Resource Management
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Mystery Dungeon
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Resource Management, Mystery Dungeon; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Dungeon Crawler, RPG, Turn-Based Tactics
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, Anime, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 66% positive over 1,896 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Resource Management with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + WesternFair
- + SnowFair
- + JRPGFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + HorsesFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Shimmering Horizon and Cursed Blacksmith | $19.99 | 983 58% | 29k | $590k (exactly $589,505) | Ason | |
| | Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island | $39.99 | 470 85% | 14k | $564k (exactly $563,859) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | |
| | Diggles: The Myth of Fenris | older | $9.99 | 619 89% | 19k | $186k (exactly $185,514) | Spieleentwicklungskombinat GmbH, Genera… (Spieleentwicklungskombinat GmbH, General Arcade) |
| | Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- | $24.99 | 160 49% | 4.8k | $120k (exactly $119,952) | Square Enix | |
| | One More Dungeon 2 | older | $14.99 | 144 81% | 4.3k | $65k (exactly $64,757) | Stately Snail |
| | PuPu's Adventure Park | $14.99 | 130 64% | 3.9k | $58k (exactly $58,461) | 西梅树工作室 | |
| | The Sealed Ampoule | older | $19.99 | 56 80% | 1.7k | $34k (exactly $33,583) | CAVYHOUSE |
| | Dread Nautical | older | $19.99 | 21 61% | 630 | $13k (exactly $12,594) | Zen Studios |
| | Everfall 2: Idle Dungeon RPG | $9.99 | 42 76% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $12,587) | GameDevJoey | |
| | Heroes Against Time | $7.49 | 53 94% | 1.6k | $12k (exactly $11,909) | David Vinokurov | |
| | Dungeon Deck | $9.99 | 37 97% | 1.1k | $11k (exactly $11,089) | Incinious | |
| | Goddess Scroll - The Last Starlight | $9.99 | 11 27% | 330 | $3.3k (exactly $3,297) | Revenge Red Eyes | |
| | Verfall | $6.99 | 7 57% | 210 | $1.5k (exactly $1,468) | Hoffnung Haydn | |
| | Hoku Shrine | · EA | $9.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | Ibragim Shaipov |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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