Games › Stealth › Stealth + Roguelike
Should I ship a Roguelike Stealth game?
Stealth + Roguelike
Of 51 developers who shipped a Roguelike Stealth game 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.. 89 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $170k, ×286 the market median. Revenue is up 475% on the market; 89 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $11,988) |
| Top 5% | $180k (exactly $179,880) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 51 |
| Released games | 146 |
| Announced | 89 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 up 475% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, 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
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Stealth, Roguelike; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Procedural Generation
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 3,223 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. Nearly all of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 89 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Stealth with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + WargamePoor odds
- + DinosaursPoor odds
- + Gun CustomizationPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
Streets of Rogue 2019 · $10M 
Void Bastards 2019 · $3.5M 
Baldi's Basics Plus 2020 · EA · $3.3M 
Heat Signature 2017 · $3.1M 
Invisible, Inc. 2015 · $3.1M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Streets of Rogue | older | $19.99 | 17,215 96% | 516k | $10M (exactly $10,323,836) | Matt Dabrowski |
| | Void Bastards | older | $29.99 | 3,888 86% | 117k | $3.5M (exactly $3,498,034) | Blue Manchu |
| | Baldi's Basics Plus | · EA older | $9.99 | 10,895 97% | 327k | $3.3M (exactly $3,265,232) | Basically Games |
| | Heat Signature | older | $14.99 | 6,849 94% | 205k | $3.1M (exactly $3,079,995) | Suspicious Developments |
| | Invisible, Inc. | older | $19.99 | 5,096 91% | 153k | $3.1M (exactly $3,056,071) | Klei Entertainment |
 | Sir, You Are Being Hunted | older | $19.99 | 2,875 79% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,724,137) | Big Robot Ltd |
 | Receiver 2 | older | $19.99 | 2,852 90% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,710,344) | Wolfire Games |
 | Monstrum | older | $17.99 | 3,155 91% | 95k | $1.7M (exactly $1,702,753) | Team Junkfish |
 | Golden Light | older | $19.99 | 1,959 91% | 59k | $1.2M (exactly $1,174,812) | Mr. Pink |
 | Cogmind | · EA older | $24.99 | 1,560 95% | 47k | $1.2M (exactly $1,169,532) | Grid Sage Games |
 | Goblin Vyke: The Thief Tycoon | $14.99 | 1,397 70% | 42k | $628k (exactly $628,231) | Art Thieves | |
 | It Has My Face | $9.99 | 608 88% | 18k | $182k (exactly $182,218) | NightByte Games | |
 | Forsaken Frontiers | $14.99 | 400 82% | 12k | $180k (exactly $179,880) | made in fairyland | |
 | Rina's Undercover Train Operation | $13.99 | 286 70% | 8.6k | $120k (exactly $120,034) | Metamorphose | |
 | INTO EVIL | · EA | $14.99 | 106 92% | 3.2k | $48k (exactly $47,668) | Mind's Eye Games |
 | Deadly Delivery | $9.99 | 152 89% | 4.6k | $46k (exactly $45,554) | Flat Head Studio | |
 | Lia: Hacking Destiny | $14.99 | 92 96% | 2.8k | $41k (exactly $41,372) | Orube Game Studio | |
 | SAVE | · EA | $11.99 | 91 48% | 2.7k | $33k (exactly $32,733) | Influsion Inc. |
 | Shadowed: The Demon Castle of Ooe | $15.99 | 56 92% | 1.7k | $27k (exactly $26,863) | Lab Rabbit Games ltd | |
 | Regulators | $14.99 | 35 100% | 1.1k | $16k (exactly $15,740) | Orangepixel |
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.