Games › Roguelike › Roguelike + Sci-fi
Should I ship a Sci-fi Roguelike?
Roguelike + Sci-fi
Of 540 developers who shipped a Sci-fi 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.. 950 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×2.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $510k, ×1086 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 950 games are announced against 336 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,200) |
| Top 25% | $11k (exactly $11,252) |
| Top 5% | $516k (exactly $515,816) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 540 |
| Released games | 1,228 |
| Announced | 950 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 45% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Roguelike; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelite, Action, Action Roguelike
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 113,107 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 8 in 10 of the 242 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 950 games are announced against 336 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Roguelike with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Grand StrategyFair
- + VampiresFair
- + DogsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + SuperheroFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
Comparable games
FTL: Faster Than Light 2012 · $19M 
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor 2025 · $18M 
Brotato 2023 · $17M 
Roboquest 2023 · $14M 
Project Wingman 2020 · $14M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | FTL: Faster Than Light | older | $9.99 | 62,763 94% | 1.9M | $19M (exactly $18,810,071) | Subset Games |
| | Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor | $12.99 | 46,354 86% | 1.4M | $18M (exactly $18,064,154) | Funday Games | |
| | Brotato | older | $4.99 | 111,407 95% | 3.3M | $17M (exactly $16,677,628) | Blobfish |
| | Roboquest | older | $24.99 | 19,158 95% | 575k | $14M (exactly $14,362,753) | RyseUp Studios |
| | Project Wingman | older | $24.99 | 18,407 94% | 552k | $14M (exactly $13,799,728) | Sector D2 |
 | Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core | · EA | $29.99 | 14,049 60% | 421k | $13M (exactly $12,639,885) | Ghost Ship Games |
 | Returnal™ | older | $59.99 | 6,602 79% | 198k | $12M (exactly $11,881,619) | Housemarque, Climax Studios |
 | Deadzone: Rogue | $24.99 | 15,041 82% | 451k | $11M (exactly $11,276,238) | Prophecy Games | |
 | Risk of Rain Returns | older | $14.99 | 24,795 89% | 744k | $11M (exactly $11,150,312) | Hopoo Games |
 | Caves of Qud | $29.99 | 11,892 94% | 357k | $11M (exactly $10,699,232) | Freehold Games | |
 | Quasimorph | $24.99 | 7,196 82% | 216k | $5.4M (exactly $5,394,841) | Magnum Scriptum | |
 | Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | $34.99 | 4,162 79% | 125k | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) | Gamexcite | |
 | Tower Dominion | $17.49 | 5,117 85% | 154k | $2.7M (exactly $2,684,890) | Parallel 45 Games | |
 | VOID/BREAKER | · EA | $29.99 | 2,506 91% | 75k | $2.3M (exactly $2,254,648) | Stubby Games |
 | Void War | $19.99 | 3,653 94% | 110k | $2.2M (exactly $2,190,704) | Tundra | |
 | Ostranauts | $19.99 | 3,137 77% | 94k | $1.9M (exactly $1,881,259) | Blue Bottle Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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