Games › RPG › RPG + Underwater
Should I ship an Underwater RPG?
RPG + Underwater
Of 26 developers who shipped an Underwater RPG 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.. 62 more are announced, ×4.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300, ×0.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150. 62 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.4 per shipper, while revenue is up 350% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 25% | $6.3k (exactly $6,294) |
| Top 5% | $7.1M (exactly $7,075,831) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 26 |
| Released games | 74 |
| Announced | 62 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 350% on the market, supply 15% more 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.
- RPG
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Underwater
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- RPG; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Open World, Action
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 53% positive over 211,458 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 7 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 62 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
RPG with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + IdlerFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + SportsFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + SamuraiPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
- + MinigamesPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
Comparable games
Monster Hunter Wilds 2025 · $241M 
DAVE THE DIVER 2023 · $86M 
BioShock™ Remastered 2016 · $31M 
Maneater 2021 · $26M 
Another Crab's Treasure 2024 · $15M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Monster Hunter Wilds | $39.99 | 200,984 52% | 6.0M | $241M (exactly $241,120,505) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
| | DAVE THE DIVER | older | $19.99 | 142,662 96% | 4.3M | $86M (exactly $85,554,401) | MINTROCKET |
| | BioShock™ Remastered | older | $19.99 | 52,500 83% | 1.6M | $31M (exactly $31,484,250) | 2K Boston, 2K Australia, Blind Squirrel… (2K Boston, 2K Australia, Blind Squirrel, Feral Interactive (Mac)) |
| | Maneater | older | $39.99 | 21,790 87% | 654k | $26M (exactly $26,141,463) | Tripwire Interactive |
| | Another Crab's Treasure | older | $29.99 | 16,863 93% | 506k | $15M (exactly $15,171,641) | Aggro Crab |
 | BioShock™ | older | $19.99 | 25,188 93% | 756k | $15M (exactly $15,105,244) | 2K Boston, 2K Australia |
 | BioShock™ 2 Remastered | older | $19.99 | 24,316 72% | 729k | $15M (exactly $14,582,305) | 2K Marin, 2K China, Digital Extremes, 2… (2K Marin, 2K China, Digital Extremes, 2K Australia, Blind Squirrel, Feral Interactive (Mac)) |
 | Starsand Island | $39.99 | 5,898 76% | 177k | $7.1M (exactly $7,075,831) | Seed Sparkle Lab | |
 | BioShock® 2 | older | $19.99 | 11,467 88% | 344k | $6.9M (exactly $6,876,760) | 2K Marin, 2K China, Digital Extremes, 2… (2K Marin, 2K China, Digital Extremes, 2K Australia) |
 | IfSunSets | · EA | $19.99 | 2,284 74% | 69k | $1.4M (exactly $1,369,715) | POLYMORPH |
 | Project Castaway | $19.99 | 1,815 64% | 54k | $1.1M (exactly $1,088,456) | Mardonpol Inc. | |
 | Captain Bones : A Pirate's Journey | $14.99 | 348 79% | 10k | $156k (exactly $156,496) | World of Poly | |
 | Deep Crafter | · EA | $17.99 | 76 68% | 2.3k | $41k (exactly $41,017) | Deep Crafter Studio |
 | A Tale of Silent Depths | $9.99 | 21 80% | 630 | $6.3k (exactly $6,294) | Crit42 Studio | |
 | Abyss Crew | $9.99 | 10 30% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | PGM Studio, Deep Slap Studio | |
 | Strong Crab | $5.99 | 11 81% | 330 | $2.0k (exactly $1,977) | Kayla.Z | |
 | Maldives in Dream | $3.99 | 11 63% | 330 | $1.3k (exactly $1,317) | MDIDGame |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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