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Should I ship a Space Roguelike Deckbuilder?
Roguelike Deckbuilder + Space
Only 18 developers shipped a Space Roguelike Deckbuilder 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, Starless Abyss, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 36 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $11k, ×18 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $3.2k; 1 in 20 cleared $170k, ×283 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 36 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $3.1k (exactly $3,148) |
|---|---|
| Median | $11k (exactly $11,252) |
| Top 25% | $50k (exactly $50,366) |
| Top 5% | $178k (exactly $177,511) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 35 |
| Announced | 36 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 70% on the market, supply 25% 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.
- Roguelike Deckbuilder
- effort 3 / 10 · high · deckbuilding rules plus procedural runs
- Space
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Roguelike Deckbuilder; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Card Game, Strategy, Card Battler
- Price point
- $11.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 1,170 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $3.2k. 3 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 36 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Roguelike Deckbuilder with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + PhysicsStrong odds
- + Inventory ManagementFair
- + DiceFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + ExplorationFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + MythologyFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + PuzzleFair
- + CyberpunkLong shot
- + PvPPoor odds
Comparable games
Cobalt Core 2023 · $2.4M 
Deep Sky Derelicts 2018 · $1.2M 
Tower Tactics: Liberation 2023 · $734k 
Zet Zillions 2024 · $216k 
For The Warp 2022 · $195k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Cobalt Core | older | $19.99 | 4,067 95% | 122k | $2.4M (exactly $2,438,980) | Rocket Rat Games |
| | Deep Sky Derelicts | older | $19.99 | 1,985 73% | 60k | $1.2M (exactly $1,190,404) | Snowhound Games |
| | Tower Tactics: Liberation | older | $19.99 | 1,224 88% | 37k | $734k (exactly $734,033) | asraworks |
| | Zet Zillions | older | $9.99 | 722 87% | 22k | $216k (exactly $216,383) | OTA IMON Studios |
| | For The Warp | older | $14.99 | 434 72% | 13k | $195k (exactly $195,170) | Massive Galaxy Studios |
 | Starless Abyss | $19.99 | 296 83% | 8.9k | $178k (exactly $177,511) | Konafa Games | |
 | Stellar Orphans | $16.99 | 139 71% | 4.2k | $71k (exactly $70,848) | Artifex Parvus | |
 | Clonizer | $14.99 | 146 82% | 4.4k | $66k (exactly $65,656) | Juicy Plume | |
 | Souls of White Star | · EA older | $14.99 | 142 83% | 4.3k | $64k (exactly $63,857) | Souls of Star Game Lab. |
 | Hyperspace Deck Command | $19.99 | 91 95% | 2.7k | $55k (exactly $54,573) | Sleeper Games | |
 | Takara Cards | $14.99 | 112 83% | 3.4k | $50k (exactly $50,366) | Post Mortem Pixels | |
 | Command Deck | · EA | $14.99 | 74 98% | 2.2k | $33k (exactly $33,278) | k-critical |
 | Flaregate Network | $14.99 | 58 77% | 1.7k | $26k (exactly $26,083) | Keycard Studio, LLC | |
 | Inventorix | $4.99 | 131 100% | 3.9k | $20k (exactly $19,611) | Arcaludi | |
 | outpost4 | $3.99 | 94 72% | 2.8k | $11k (exactly $11,252) | BananaDogGames | |
 | Star Mining Co. | $8.99 | 29 82% | 870 | $7.8k (exactly $7,821) | Barney Whiteman |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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