Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Visual Novel
Should I ship a Visual Novel Souls-like?
Souls-like + Visual Novel
Of 25 developers who shipped a Visual Novel 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.. 17 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $27k, ×18 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is up 130% on the market; 17 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $27k (exactly $26,978) |
| Top 25% | $156k (exactly $155,844) |
| Top 5% | $610k (exactly $610,028) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 77 |
| Announced | 17 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 130% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, 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
- Visual Novel
- effort 2 / 10 · high · script, choices and static art
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like, Visual Novel; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Choices Matter, RPG
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Anime, 2D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 15,276 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 6 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 17 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Souls-like with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimStrong odds
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + WarPoor odds
- + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
Comparable games
コイカツ！ / Koikatsu Party 2019 · $9.5M 
NEKOPARA Vol. 1 2014 · $7.0M 
Living With Sister: Monochrome Fantasy 2024 · $5.9M 
YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story 2020 · $5.4M 
NEKOPARA Vol. 3 2017 · $3.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | コイカツ！ / Koikatsu Party | older | $59.99 | 5,298 91% | 159k | $9.5M (exactly $9,534,811) | ILLUSION |
| | NEKOPARA Vol. 1 | older | $9.99 | 23,405 95% | 702k | $7.0M (exactly $7,014,478) | NEKO WORKs |
| | Living With Sister: Monochrome Fantasy | older | $12.99 | 15,119 69% | 454k | $5.9M (exactly $5,891,874) | Inusuku |
| | YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story | older | $29.99 | 6,033 95% | 181k | $5.4M (exactly $5,427,890) | Nitroplus |
| | NEKOPARA Vol. 3 | older | $9.99 | 11,153 96% | 335k | $3.3M (exactly $3,342,554) | NEKO WORKs |
 | NEKOPARA Vol. 2 | older | $9.99 | 11,055 97% | 332k | $3.3M (exactly $3,313,184) | NEKO WORKs |
 | To Be or Not to Be | older | $12.99 | 8,035 89% | 241k | $3.1M (exactly $3,131,240) | Team K |
 | VR Kanojo / VRカノジョ | older | $49.99 | 1,767 76% | 53k | $2.6M (exactly $2,649,970) | ILLUSION |
 | NEKOPARA Vol. 4 | older | $9.99 | 8,240 97% | 247k | $2.5M (exactly $2,469,528) | NEKO WORKs |
 | SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal | older | $29.99 | 2,433 92% | 73k | $2.2M (exactly $2,188,970) | Tamsoft |
 | Nunholy | $7.99 | 5,150 88% | 155k | $1.2M (exactly $1,234,455) | Chowbie | |
 | The Dark Queen of Mortholme | $4.99 | 4,075 83% | 122k | $610k (exactly $610,028) | Mosu | |
 | NEKOPARA After | $9.99 | 1,198 90% | 36k | $359k (exactly $359,041) | NEKO WORKs | |
 | The Married Woman Nextdoor - Creampie SEX Beside Her Husband | $9.99 | 933 86% | 28k | $280k (exactly $279,620) | AibanWork | |
 | CUCKOLD SIMULATOR: Life as a Beta Male Cuck | $4.99 | 1,680 93% | 50k | $251k (exactly $251,496) | Team SNEED | |
 | Escape from Yandere | $4.99 | 1,335 75% | 40k | $200k (exactly $199,850) | VorhGames | |
 | Exposed Livestream | $9.99 | 520 81% | 16k | $156k (exactly $155,844) | Kumada Gaon | |
 | 中国式地雷女 | $7.99 | 191 73% | 5.7k | $46k (exactly $45,783) | 钟夏游戏（ZHONGXIA GAMES） | |
 | Cafe DReAMLAND | $12.99 | 99 93% | 3.0k | $39k (exactly $38,580) | めとこ | |
 | Soul Mates | · EA | $12.99 | 95 97% | 2.9k | $37k (exactly $37,022) | Sad Panda Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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