Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Physics
Should I ship a Physics Souls-like?
Souls-like + Physics
Of 42 developers who shipped a Physics Souls-like 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.. 47 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×0.8 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $450k, ×301 the market median. Revenue is up 1550% on the market; 47 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $594 (exactly $594) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) |
| Top 25% | $22k (exactly $21,856) |
| Top 5% | $451k (exactly $450,570) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 42 |
| Released games | 120 |
| Announced | 47 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 1550% on the market, supply 50% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Souls-like
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Physics
- effort 5 / 10 · low · emergent simulation bugs need hands-on tuning
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like, Physics; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Third Person, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 5,126 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 31 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 47 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Souls-like with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimStrong odds
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + WarPoor odds
- + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
Comparable games
Rain World 2017 · $35M 
Exanima 2015 · EA · $5.7M 
STAR WARS™: The Force Unleashed™ II 2010 · $3.5M 
Hellsplit: Arena 2019 · $2.8M 
En Garde! 2023 · $2.5M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Rain World | older | $24.99 | 46,871 94% | 1.4M | $35M (exactly $35,139,189) | Videocult |
| | Exanima | · EA older | $14.99 | 12,684 80% | 381k | $5.7M (exactly $5,703,995) | Bare Mettle Entertainment |
| | STAR WARS™: The Force Unleashed™ II | older | $19.99 | 5,854 63% | 176k | $3.5M (exactly $3,510,644) | Aspyr Studios |
| | Hellsplit: Arena | older | $24.99 | 3,735 83% | 112k | $2.8M (exactly $2,800,130) | Deep Type Games |
| | En Garde! | older | $19.99 | 4,161 90% | 125k | $2.5M (exactly $2,495,352) | Fireplace Games |
 | Lonely Mountains: Downhill | older | $19.99 | 2,741 89% | 82k | $1.6M (exactly $1,643,778) | Megagon Industries |
 | Eternal Strands | $29.99 | 1,661 87% | 50k | $1.5M (exactly $1,494,402) | Yellow Brick Games | |
 | Source of Madness | older | $19.99 | 1,410 69% | 42k | $846k (exactly $845,577) | Carry Castle |
 | The Light Brigade: Definitive Edition | older | $24.99 | 1,125 88% | 34k | $843k (exactly $843,412) | Funktronic Labs |
 | Grimlord | $29.99 | 927 78% | 28k | $834k (exactly $834,022) | Metalcat Interactive Co.,Ltd | |
 | Trench Tales | · EA | $24.99 | 601 69% | 18k | $451k (exactly $450,570) | Talking Drums |
 | King of Bones | $7.99 | 316 85% | 9.5k | $76k (exactly $75,745) | Gluten Free Games | |
 | Gun Frog | $4.99 | 433 94% | 13k | $65k (exactly $64,820) | Zoteling | |
 | Pushing it! Together - Sisyphus Co-op | $3.99 | 491 48% | 15k | $59k (exactly $58,773) | Bashir "ManliestDev" Kashalo,… (Bashir "ManliestDev" Kashalo, Blind Archer) | |
 | Driving Is Hard | $6.99 | 200 79% | 6.0k | $42k (exactly $41,940) | Elegant Horse Studios | |
 | THE CANON OF BALLS | $3.99 | 287 98% | 8.6k | $34k (exactly $34,354) | Helios Monk | |
 | Soul Chained | $6.99 | 149 71% | 4.5k | $31k (exactly $31,245) | Andrew Nicolaou | |
 | Maseylia : Echoes of the Past | $16.99 | 61 80% | 1.8k | $31k (exactly $31,092) | Sol Brothers |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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