Games › Turn-Based Combat › Turn-Based Combat + Mystery Dungeon
Should I ship a Mystery Dungeon Turn-Based Combat game?
Turn-Based Combat + Mystery Dungeon
Of 57 developers who shipped a Mystery Dungeon Turn-Based Combat 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.. 71 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.1k, ×8.7 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $200k, ×440 the market median. Revenue is up 20% on the market; 71 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,468) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.1k (exactly $4,126) |
| Top 25% | $32k (exactly $31,665) |
| Top 5% | $209k (exactly $208,986) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 57 |
| Released games | 139 |
| Announced | 71 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Turn-Based Combat
- 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
- Turn-Based Combat, Mystery Dungeon; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Dungeon Crawler, Adventure
- Price point
- $11.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Anime, Cute, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 2,737 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 8 in 10 of the 31 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 71 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Turn-Based Combat with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + WuxiaStrong odds
- + Hack and SlashStrong odds
- + RomeFair
- + CookingFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + IdlerFair
- + DiceFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + SolitaireFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Shattered Pixel Dungeon | older | $9.99 | 2,106 95% | 63k | $631k (exactly $631,168) | Shattered Pixel |
| | Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island | $39.99 | 470 85% | 14k | $564k (exactly $563,859) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | |
| | Tangledeep | older | $14.99 | 1,075 82% | 32k | $483k (exactly $483,428) | Impact Gameworks |
| | Dungeon Drafters | older | $24.99 | 563 76% | 17k | $422k (exactly $422,081) | Manalith Studios |
| | Escape Dungeon | older | $12.99 | 817 79% | 25k | $318k (exactly $318,385) | Hide Games |
| | Nightmare Knight ~Sacred Maiden & Fallen Magic~ | $17.99 | 557 86% | 17k | $301k (exactly $300,613) | orzPINEz | |
| | House of Necrosis | $11.99 | 581 94% | 17k | $209k (exactly $208,986) | Warkus | |
| | From Frontier | older | $15.99 | 359 96% | 11k | $172k (exactly $172,212) | Doubles Core |
| | Sakura Gozen | $16.99 | 320 96% | 9.6k | $163k (exactly $163,104) | kaniheadcrab | |
| | Dungeon Dreams 2 | older | $19.99 | 209 90% | 6.3k | $125k (exactly $125,337) | DDreams Games |
| | Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- | $24.99 | 160 49% | 4.8k | $120k (exactly $119,952) | Square Enix | |
| | The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles | $9.99 | 233 78% | 7.0k | $70k (exactly $69,830) | Fix-a-Bug | |
| | Death end re;Quest: Code Z | $39.99 | 58 72% | 1.7k | $70k (exactly $69,583) | Idea Factory, Compile Heart | |
| | Paper Animal Adventure | · EA | $14.99 | 139 95% | 4.2k | $63k (exactly $62,508) | Cuddling Raccoons Studio |
| | Lord Ambermaze | $14.99 | 131 91% | 3.9k | $59k (exactly $58,911) | Potata Company | |
| | Laura of Reigetsu | $17.99 | 88 81% | 2.6k | $47k (exactly $47,494) | piyokogundan |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.