Do I ship it?

Games › Traditional Roguelike › Traditional Roguelike + Sci-fi

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Sci-fi Traditional Roguelike?

Traditional Roguelike + Sci-fi

Of 26 developers who shipped a Sci-fi Traditional Roguelike 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.. 23 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.4k, ×3.0 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $120. Revenue is up 355% on the market; 23 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 355% on the market, 23 announced, ×1.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Traditional Roguelike + Sci-fi
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 26
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $41k → $300 → $570 → $299 → $2.0k (still earning) → $629 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Traditional Roguelike + Sci-fi: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 26
Bottom 30% $119 (exactly $119)
Median $1.4k (exactly $1,438)
Top 25% $6.3k (exactly $6,294)
Top 5% $390k (exactly $390,203)
Developers, 2 yr 26
Released games 45
Announced 23
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.99

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 355% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 2%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Traditional Roguelike
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
Sci-fi
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Traditional Roguelike; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Roguelike, Procedural Generation
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, Top-Down, 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 94% positive over 13,331 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $120, median $1.4k, 1 in 4 over $6.2k, 1 in 20 over $390k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 6 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 23 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Traditional Roguelike with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Female ProtagonistFair15 devs · median $2.9k · 19 announced
  2. + Procedural GenerationFair71 devs · median $2.0k · 93 announced
  3. + CRPGFair12 devs · median $1.9k · 13 announced
  4. + Perma DeathFair49 devs · median $1.8k · 55 announced
  5. + Turn-Based CombatFair81 devs · median $1.4k · 107 announced
  6. + TacticalFair38 devs · median $987 · 57 announced
  7. + FantasyFair99 devs · median $898 · 125 announced
  8. + Turn-Based StrategyFair63 devs · median $779 · 101 announced
  9. + Turn-Based TacticsFair78 devs · median $629 · 95 announced
  10. + RoguelikeFair247 devs · median $599 · 314 announced
  11. + StrategyFair152 devs · median $599 · 207 announced
  12. + DeckbuildingFair53 devs · median $537 · 79 announced

All 54 pairs on the Traditional Roguelike page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Caves of Qud 2024 · $11M Jupiter Hell 2021 · $1.3M Cogmind 2017 · EA · $1.2M Approaching Infinity 2025 · $390k Sword of the Stars: The Pit 2013 · $339k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Caves of Qud $29.99 11,892 94% 357k $11M (exactly $10,699,232) Freehold Games
Jupiter Hell older $24.99 1,795 91% 54k $1.3M (exactly $1,345,712) ChaosForge
Cogmind · EA older $24.99 1,560 95% 47k $1.2M (exactly $1,169,532) Grid Sage Games
Approaching Infinity $17.99 723 95% 22k $390k (exactly $390,203) IBOL
Sword of the Stars: The Pit older $9.99 1,132 83% 34k $339k (exactly $339,260) Kerberos Productions
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead older $19.99 537 86% 16k $322k (exactly $322,039) CleverRaven
Shattered Planet older $14.99 406 68% 12k $183k (exactly $182,578) Kitfox Games
Jupiter Hell Classic · EA $14.99 230 95% 6.9k $103k (exactly $103,431) ChaosForge
Cataclysm: The Last Generation $6.99 281 89% 8.4k $59k (exactly $58,926) Worm Girl
Deadnaut: Signal Lost older $14.99 92 85% 2.8k $41k (exactly $41,372) Screwfly Studios
Girl Frame $14.99 69 68% 2.1k $31k (exactly $31,029) Meow Run, Cat Shine
Deadzoned · EA $4.99 66 98% 2.0k $9.9k (exactly $9,880) caiys
A Tale of Silent Depths $9.99 21 80% 630 $6.3k (exactly $6,294) Crit42 Studio
Chronos Trap in Time $12.99 11 100% 330 $4.3k (exactly $4,287) SCS Ogonvard AB
Maid Mech $2.99 29 96% 870 $2.6k (exactly $2,601) Dark Arrow Studio
Submarine Homesick Blues · EA $7.99 9 77% 270 $2.2k (exactly $2,157) MONOKU SAS

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.