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Should I ship an Underground Stealth game?
Stealth + Underground
Of 26 developers who shipped an Underground Stealth game 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.. 53 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.6k, ×7.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $400k, ×649 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 53 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $897 (exactly $897) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.6k (exactly $4,587) |
| Top 25% | $24k (exactly $23,640) |
| Top 5% | $407k (exactly $407,428) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 26 |
| Released games | 69 |
| Announced | 53 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Stealth
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Underground
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Stealth; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 13,314 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 7 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 53 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Stealth with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + WargamePoor odds
- + DinosaursPoor odds
- + Gun CustomizationPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic 2025 · $13M 
Dirty Business 2026 · EA · $407k 
Arx Fatalis 2007 · $366k 
Reach 2025 · $220k 
Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice 2024 · $211k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic | $39.99 | 10,874 86% | 326k | $13M (exactly $13,045,538) | Steel Wool Studios | |
| | Dirty Business | · EA | $14.99 | 906 75% | 27k | $407k (exactly $407,428) | Plan Dirty Games |
| | Arx Fatalis | older | $4.99 | 2,443 87% | 73k | $366k (exactly $365,717) | Arkane Studios |
| | Reach | $29.99 | 244 66% | 7.3k | $220k (exactly $219,527) | nDreams Elevation | |
| | Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice | older | $29.99 | 235 64% | 7.1k | $211k (exactly $211,430) | Fast Travel Games |
 | Caput Mortum | $11.99 | 355 94% | 11k | $128k (exactly $127,694) | WildArts Games | |
 | Dying Breed | · EA | $17.99 | 218 71% | 6.5k | $118k (exactly $117,655) | Sarnayer |
 | The Siege and the Sandfox | $14.99 | 180 64% | 5.4k | $81k (exactly $80,946) | Cardboard Sword | |
 | Scamper | older | $19.99 | 87 87% | 2.6k | $52k (exactly $52,174) | Bezbro Games |
 | Dynamite Jack | older | $9.99 | 128 89% | 3.8k | $38k (exactly $38,362) | Hassey Enterprises, Inc. |
 | There's Nothing Down There | $2.00 | 394 84% | 12k | $24k (exactly $23,640) | Tim Trankle | |
 | THREAT -SCREAM AND ESCAPE- | $8.99 | 73 83% | 2.2k | $20k (exactly $19,688) | C-Route, HiBiGA | |
 | Antro | $14.99 | 42 92% | 1.3k | $19k (exactly $18,887) | Gatera Studio | |
 | COLLAPSE COMPANY | · EA | $8.99 | 28 89% | 840 | $7.6k (exactly $7,552) | VOLT-TECKS GAME STUDIO |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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