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Should I ship a Puzzle Traditional Roguelike?
Traditional Roguelike + Puzzle
Only 19 developers shipped a Puzzle Traditional Roguelike 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, Infinite Cards, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 21 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300, ×0.6 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $60. Revenue is down 85% on the market, with 21 games announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $299 (exactly $299) |
| Top 25% | $2.5k (exactly $2,545) |
| Top 5% | $46k (exactly $46,051) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 37 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 down 85% on the market, supply 435% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Traditional Roguelike
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Puzzle
- effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Traditional Roguelike, Puzzle; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Roguelite, Strategy
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 189 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 21 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Traditional Roguelike with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Procedural GenerationFair
- + CRPGFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Turn-Based CombatFair
- + Sci-fiFair
- + TacticalFair
- + FantasyFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
- + RoguelikeFair
- + StrategyFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Desktop Dungeons | older | $14.99 | 1,134 88% | 34k | $510k (exactly $509,960) | QCF Design |
| | Desktop Dungeons: Rewind | older | $19.99 | 501 75% | 15k | $300k (exactly $300,450) | QCF Design |
| | HyperRogue | older | $9.99 | 404 97% | 12k | $121k (exactly $121,079) | Zeno Rogue |
| | Right and Down | older | $9.99 | 200 80% | 6.0k | $60k (exactly $59,940) | mc2games |
| | Infinite Cards | $15.99 | 96 93% | 2.9k | $46k (exactly $46,051) | Tubby Turtle Studios | |
| | Undergrave | older | $9.99 | 72 87% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,578) | Wired Dreams Studio |
| | I Am Overburdened | older | $4.99 | 138 86% | 4.1k | $21k (exactly $20,659) | Magic Item Tech |
| | Endhall | older | $2.99 | 111 84% | 3.3k | $10k (exactly $9,957) | Heartbeast |
| | Hydra Slayer | older | $5.99 | 45 93% | 1.4k | $8.1k (exactly $8,086) | Zeno Rogue |
| | Nova-111 | older | $4.99 | 54 79% | 1.6k | $8.1k (exactly $8,084) | Funktronic Labs |
| | DungeonSweeper | $7.99 | 21 76% | 630 | $5.0k (exactly $5,034) | Smoketree Studios | |
| | Tetra Dungeon | $4.99 | 25 88% | 750 | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) | 套鹿工作室 | |
| | Collateral Dungeon | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | Techosaurus Studios | |
| | Azure Dragon's Treasure And 999 Days of Survival | $4.99 | 17 70% | 510 | $2.5k (exactly $2,545) | Moyu Studio | |
| | The Cascadier | · EA | $10.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $1.3k (exactly $1,319) | Enchanted Arcade |
| | 5 Golden Skulls | $6.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) | YorshInGame | |
| | PUPAI | · EA | $12.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $779 (exactly $779) | ThunderBanana |
| | ByteRogue | $2.55 | 7 100% | 210 | $536 (exactly $536) | 11clock | |
| | Platon³ | $4.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | AER Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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