Games › Survival › Survival + Roguelike Deckbuilder
Should I ship a Roguelike Deckbuilder Survival game?
Survival + Roguelike Deckbuilder
Only 16 developers shipped a Roguelike Deckbuilder Survival game 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, Kingdom's Deck, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 34 more are announced, ×4.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $11k, ×17 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $3.0k; 1 in 20 cleared $140k, ×236 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 34 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $3.0k (exactly $2,994) |
|---|---|
| Median | $11k (exactly $10,793) |
| Top 25% | $72k (exactly $71,717) |
| Top 5% | $148k (exactly $148,352) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 28 |
| Announced | 34 |
| 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 down 80% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Survival
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Roguelike Deckbuilder
- effort 3 / 10 · high · deckbuilding rules plus procedural runs
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Roguelike Deckbuilder; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Strategy, Card Game
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 2,025 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $3.0k. 4 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Social DeductionFair
- + Word GameFair
- + CatsFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + DogsFair
- + Martial ArtsLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
Ratropolis 2020 · $2.8M 
Kingdom's Deck 2025 · $148k 
Wireworks 2026 · $129k 
These Doomed Isles 2024 · $81k 
Loopstructor 2024 · $72k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ratropolis | older | $17.99 | 5,187 87% | 156k | $2.8M (exactly $2,799,424) | Cassel Games |
| | Kingdom's Deck | $9.99 | 495 72% | 15k | $148k (exactly $148,352) | Ivan Aco | |
| | Wireworks | $6.99 | 614 89% | 18k | $129k (exactly $128,756) | JJJ | |
| | These Doomed Isles | $14.99 | 180 66% | 5.4k | $81k (exactly $80,946) | Triplevision Games Limited | |
| | Loopstructor | older | $6.99 | 344 81% | 10k | $72k (exactly $72,137) | Pone Games |
 | Choice of Life: Wild Islands | $6.99 | 342 92% | 10k | $72k (exactly $71,717) | Blazing Planet Studio | |
 | Stellar Orphans | $16.99 | 139 71% | 4.2k | $71k (exactly $70,848) | Artifex Parvus | |
 | Towerful Defense: A Rogue TD | older | $9.99 | 209 70% | 6.3k | $63k (exactly $62,637) | Mini Fun Games |
 | Hero of Fate | older | $2.99 | 495 78% | 15k | $44k (exactly $44,402) | Planescape Game Studio |
 | Frost | older | $6.99 | 129 87% | 3.9k | $27k (exactly $27,051) | Jérôme Bodin |
 | Turtle Riders | $4.99 | 115 76% | 3.5k | $17k (exactly $17,216) | Solenya | |
 | Noah's Dilemma | $9.99 | 43 90% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $12,887) | Guanpeng Chen | |
 | Infest | $14.99 | 24 75% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | Chute Apps | |
 | SPELLHACK!! | $5.99 | 46 91% | 1.4k | $8.3k (exactly $8,266) | Computer Dream | |
 | Zombie Epoch:Deck Apocalypse | $7.99 | 27 62% | 810 | $6.5k (exactly $6,472) | HY Indie Game |
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.