Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Sandbox
Should I ship a Sandbox Souls-like?
Souls-like + Sandbox
Of 24 developers who shipped a Sandbox Souls-like 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.. 46 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $22k, ×14 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.2k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×1092 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 46 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.1k (exactly $1,129) |
|---|---|
| Median | $22k (exactly $21,593) |
| Top 25% | $480k (exactly $480,280) |
| Top 5% | $1.6M (exactly $1,636,482) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 24 |
| Released games | 68 |
| Announced | 46 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 65% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Souls-like
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Sandbox
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like, Sandbox; all of the top 25% also carry Action, Open World, RPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Third Person, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 29,730 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.2k. 5 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 46 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Souls-like with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimStrong odds
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + WarPoor odds
- + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
Comparable games
Grounded 2022 · $91M 
Grounded 2 2025 · EA · $19M 
コイカツ！ / Koikatsu Party 2019 · $9.5M 
Hellsplit: Arena 2019 · $2.8M 
Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms 2024 · $1.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Grounded | older | $39.99 | 75,755 90% | 2.3M | $91M (exactly $90,883,274) | Obsidian Entertainment |
| | Grounded 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 21,442 82% | 643k | $19M (exactly $19,291,367) | Obsidian Entertainment, Eidos-Montréal |
| | コイカツ！ / Koikatsu Party | older | $59.99 | 5,298 91% | 159k | $9.5M (exactly $9,534,811) | ILLUSION |
| | Hellsplit: Arena | older | $24.99 | 3,735 83% | 112k | $2.8M (exactly $2,800,130) | Deep Type Games |
| | Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms | $34.99 | 1,559 72% | 47k | $1.6M (exactly $1,636,482) | Gamera Interactive | |
 | IfSunSets | · EA | $19.99 | 2,284 74% | 69k | $1.4M (exactly $1,369,715) | POLYMORPH |
 | Duel Corp. | · EA | $24.99 | 1,251 71% | 38k | $938k (exactly $937,875) | Dreameffect Entertainment |
 | YAR: Forgotten Throne | $19.99 | 1,283 89% | 38k | $769k (exactly $769,415) | Honor Games | |
 | Devil Spire Falls | · EA | $14.99 | 1,068 94% | 32k | $480k (exactly $480,280) | Ithiro Sumi |
 | Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs | older | $19.99 | 318 89% | 9.5k | $191k (exactly $190,705) | Resolution Games |
 | ENDALOR | · EA | $19.99 | 256 71% | 7.7k | $154k (exactly $153,523) | Diorite Games |
 | King of Bones | $7.99 | 316 85% | 9.5k | $76k (exactly $75,745) | Gluten Free Games | |
 | Elder Legacy: Survival | · EA | $9.99 | 189 62% | 5.7k | $57k (exactly $56,643) | Honor Games |
 | DragonRoad | $19.98 | 82 91% | 2.5k | $49k (exactly $49,151) | XuJie |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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