Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Rhythm
Should I ship a Rhythm Souls-like?
Souls-like + Rhythm
Only 7 developers shipped a Rhythm Souls-like 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, Dead as Disco, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 23 more are announced, ×5.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 7 / 10 build.
Only 4 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $240 against a market of $1.5k. 23 games are announced.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $239 (exactly $239) |
| Top 25% | $14k (exactly $14,086) |
| Top 5% | $9.3M (exactly $9,261,794) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 7 |
| Released games | 30 |
| Announced | 23 |
| 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 4400% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, 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
- Rhythm
- effort 3 / 10 · medium · audio sync, timing precision and music rights
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like, Rhythm
- Price point
- $4.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $39.39 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 303,945 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 23 games are announced against 4 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.8 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition | older | $59.99 | 259,508 95% | 7.8M | $467M (exactly $467,036,548) | FromSoftware, Inc. |
| | Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ | older | $39.39 | 19,507 94% | 585k | $23M (exactly $23,051,422) | SEGA |
| | Dead as Disco | · EA | $24.99 | 12,354 96% | 371k | $9.3M (exactly $9,261,794) | Brain Jar Games, Inc. |
| | Trombone Champ | older | $14.99 | 10,327 98% | 310k | $4.6M (exactly $4,644,052) | Holy Wow Studios LLC |
| | FIGHT KNIGHT | older | $19.99 | 1,547 91% | 46k | $928k (exactly $927,736) | Team Sorcerobe |
| | ONE BTN BOSSES | older | $11.99 | 165 87% | 5.0k | $59k (exactly $59,350) | Midnight Munchies |
| | Aim Climb | older | $6.80 | 225 89% | 6.8k | $46k (exactly $45,900) | YuLu |
| | Slash or Die | older | $4.99 | 150 84% | 4.5k | $22k (exactly $22,455) | ClickGames |
| | The Shaman's Ark | $9.99 | 47 97% | 1.4k | $14k (exactly $14,086) | Amortiz Games | |
| | Pixel Samurai | older | $2.99 | 115 89% | 3.5k | $10k (exactly $10,316) | ArtofKingsgame |
| | Tides of The Endless | · EA | $7.99 | 25 84% | 750 | $6.0k (exactly $5,992) | Shimmer High Sea |
| | Cadence | $3.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $239 (exactly $239) | BitShift_Games | |
| | Blade Knight | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | Sheldon Kalkman | |
| | Time Assassin | $0.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | 0cd studio | |
| | Vaporwave Hardest Game | $2.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | RewindApp |
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.