Games › Perma Death › Perma Death + Traditional Roguelike
Should I ship a Perma Death Traditional Roguelike?
Perma Death + Traditional Roguelike
Of 49 developers who shipped a Perma Death Traditional Roguelike 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.. 55 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×3.8 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $300. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 55 games are announced against 36 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,797) |
| Top 25% | $5.4k (exactly $5,396) |
| Top 5% | $209k (exactly $208,986) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 49 |
| Released games | 116 |
| Announced | 55 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 25% on the market, supply 175% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 3%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Perma Death
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Traditional Roguelike
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Perma Death, Traditional Roguelike; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Roguelike, Procedural Generation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 2D, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 10,322 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 55 games are announced against 36 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Perma Death with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + LGBTQ+Strong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + PiratesFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + 3D PlatformerFair
- + PuzzleFair
Comparable games
Elin 2024 · EA · $5.0M 
Soulash 2 2023 · EA · $1.4M 
Jupiter Hell 2021 · $1.3M 
Tales of Maj'Eyal 2013 · $1.3M 
Cogmind 2017 · EA · $1.2M | 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 |
| | Soulash 2 | · EA older | $18.99 | 2,382 85% | 71k | $1.4M (exactly $1,357,025) | Artur Smiarowski |
| | Jupiter Hell | older | $24.99 | 1,795 91% | 54k | $1.3M (exactly $1,345,712) | ChaosForge |
| | Tales of Maj'Eyal | older | $6.99 | 6,320 94% | 190k | $1.3M (exactly $1,325,304) | Netcore Games |
| | Cogmind | · EA older | $24.99 | 1,560 95% | 47k | $1.2M (exactly $1,169,532) | Grid Sage Games |
 | Path of Achra | older | $9.99 | 3,166 98% | 95k | $949k (exactly $948,850) | Ulfsire |
 | Dungeons of Dredmor | older | $7.99 | 3,702 94% | 111k | $887k (exactly $887,369) | Gaslamp Games, Inc. |
 | Shattered Pixel Dungeon | older | $9.99 | 2,106 95% | 63k | $631k (exactly $631,168) | Shattered Pixel |
 | ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery) | older | $14.99 | 1,253 86% | 38k | $563k (exactly $563,474) | Thomas Biskup, Jochen Terstiege, Zeno R… (Thomas Biskup, Jochen Terstiege, Zeno Rogue, Krzysztof Dycha, Lucas Dieguez) |
 | UnReal World | older | $14.50 | 1,224 93% | 37k | $532k (exactly $532,440) | Sami Maaranen (creator), Erkka Lehmus (… (Sami Maaranen (creator), Erkka Lehmus (co-designer)) |
 | Approaching Infinity | $17.99 | 723 95% | 22k | $390k (exactly $390,203) | IBOL | |
 | House of Necrosis | $11.99 | 581 94% | 17k | $209k (exactly $208,986) | Warkus | |
 | Jupiter Hell Classic | · EA | $14.99 | 230 95% | 6.9k | $103k (exactly $103,431) | ChaosForge |
 | Lost Flame | $13.99 | 168 96% | 5.0k | $71k (exactly $70,510) | Bartosz Bojarowski | |
 | Shadowed: The Demon Castle of Ooe | $15.99 | 56 92% | 1.7k | $27k (exactly $26,863) | Lab Rabbit Games ltd | |
 | Roguecraft DX | $11.99 | 39 92% | 1.2k | $14k (exactly $14,028) | Badger Punch Games | |
 | Rangedrifter | · EA | $14.99 | 27 100% | 810 | $12k (exactly $12,142) | Max Schmidt |
 | Deadzoned | · EA | $4.99 | 66 98% | 2.0k | $9.9k (exactly $9,880) | caiys |
 | DeAnima | $9.99 | 26 84% | 780 | $7.8k (exactly $7,792) | Steelgaze Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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