Games › Survival › Survival + Artificial Intelligence
Should I ship an AI Survival game?
Survival + Artificial Intelligence
Of 53 developers who shipped an AI Survival 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.. 120 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, ×0.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $230k, ×377 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 120 games are announced against 33 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $479 (exactly $479) |
| Top 25% | $7.7k (exactly $7,727) |
| Top 5% | $237k (exactly $236,995) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 53 |
| Released games | 202 |
| Announced | 120 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 flat on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Survival
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Artificial Intelligence
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Action, Simulation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $18.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 13,882 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 8 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 120 games are announced against 33 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Social DeductionFair
- + Word GameFair
- + CatsFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + DogsFair
- + Martial ArtsLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
Jurassic World Evolution 3 2025 · $20M 
From the Depths 2020 · $8.3M 
AI＊Shoujo/AI＊少女 2020 · $4.4M 
Kill It With Fire 2020 · $1.6M 
The Sapling 2019 · EA · $1.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Jurassic World Evolution 3 | $59.99 | 11,387 93% | 342k | $20M (exactly $20,493,184) | Frontier Developments | |
| | From the Depths | older | $24.99 | 11,059 89% | 332k | $8.3M (exactly $8,290,932) | Brilliant Skies Ltd. |
| | AI＊Shoujo/AI＊少女 | older | $69.99 | 2,100 75% | 63k | $4.4M (exactly $4,409,370) | ILLUSION |
| | Kill It With Fire | older | $12.99 | 4,036 95% | 121k | $1.6M (exactly $1,572,829) | Casey Donnellan Games LLC |
| | The Sapling | · EA older | $17.99 | 1,922 89% | 58k | $1.0M (exactly $1,037,303) | Wessel Stoop |
 | Ruinarch | older | $24.99 | 1,336 62% | 40k | $1.0M (exactly $1,001,599) | Maccima Games LLC |
 | Ukrainian Fight Drone Simulator (UFDS) - FPV drone simulator | $29.99 | 800 80% | 24k | $720k (exactly $719,760) | SIMTECH SOLUTIONS | |
 | Starmancer | · EA older | $14.99 | 891 61% | 27k | $401k (exactly $400,683) | Ominux Games |
 | Thrive | · EA older | $4.99 | 1,680 92% | 50k | $251k (exactly $251,496) | Revolutionary Games Studio |
 | Settlements Rising | $18.99 | 416 80% | 12k | $237k (exactly $236,995) | The Catalyst Crew | |
 | Titanic Escape Simulator™ | $19.99 | 374 52% | 11k | $224k (exactly $224,288) | magicprostudio, Vintage Digital Revival | |
 | Space Accident VR | $16.99 | 231 82% | 6.9k | $118k (exactly $117,741) | VR-WRG | |
 | Survivor Girls Sanctuary | $9.99 | 189 64% | 5.7k | $57k (exactly $56,643) | Survival Strategy ！ | |
 | Dofamine VR | $9.99 | 173 82% | 5.2k | $52k (exactly $51,848) | VR-WRG | |
 | Rainbow Gate | $13.99 | 116 68% | 3.5k | $49k (exactly $48,685) | 7EVIL Studio | |
 | Deep Crafter | · EA | $17.99 | 76 68% | 2.3k | $41k (exactly $41,017) | Deep Crafter Studio |
 | Flower Fairy Survivor | $9.99 | 120 87% | 3.6k | $36k (exactly $35,964) | Survival Strategy ！ |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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