When we were making Ultratron for Steam we knew that it wasn't ever going to actually sell much, but that was not the point of the article. The point of the blog post I wrote was simply to say, it takes this long and this much money to make a game like this, and it earns about this much money, so we're not going to do them any more. I think it's a shame because it scratches an itch that just isn't scratched anywhere else. And that's what Jeff was getting at, indirectly; it's a shame that these kinds of games aren't really all that viable to make. I don't want to play endless zombie games and man-shooters. I want to play games like Ultratron, and almost nobody is making them any more, which is why we've made it.
Ah. Thanks for clarifying. For very small markets, like classics or nostalgic, maybe you could up the price because your potential buyers are price elastic?
If you are selling to 10,000 older, rich guys who crave old school arcade action, why not sell at a $40 price point?
That's the only solution I can think of that other niche markets do to stay alive (collectibles, etc).
The recent big indie hits are genre defining or at least have very unique gameplay. (minecraft, ftl, etc)