Do I ship it?

GamesSurvivalSurvival + Auto Battler

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Auto Battler Survival game?

Survival + Auto Battler

Of 79 developers who shipped an Auto Battler 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.. 90 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $810, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $180. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 90 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.3 times the market baseline, revenue down 20% on the market, 90 announced, ×1.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Survival + Auto Battler
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 79
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $959 → $449 → $5.0k → $1.8k → $1.0k → $1.4k → $839 (still earning) → $598 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Survival + Auto Battler: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 79
Bottom 30% $180 (exactly $180)
Median $807 (exactly $807)
Top 25% $5.9k (exactly $5,872)
Top 5% $90k (exactly $89,910)
Developers, 2 yr 79
Released games 135
Announced 90
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 20% on the market, supply 95% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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.

Survival
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Auto Battler
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Survival, Auto Battler; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Management, Roguelike
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 5,346 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $810, 1 in 4 over $5.8k, 1 in 20 over $89k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 7 in 10 of the 31 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 90 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Survival with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVStrong odds14 devs · median $74k · 10 announced
  2. + Social DeductionFair31 devs · median $6.2k · 35 announced
  3. + Word GameFair22 devs · median $2.1k · 29 announced
  4. + CatsFair33 devs · median $1.2k · 34 announced
  5. + CollectathonFair77 devs · median $1.0k · 84 announced
  6. + IdlerFair96 devs · median $836 · 99 announced
  7. + IncrementalFair101 devs · median $599 · 130 announced
  8. + DogsFair20 devs · median $535 · 19 announced
  9. + Martial ArtsLong shot19 devs · median $419 · 17 announced
  10. + Boomer ShooterLong shot39 devs · median $359 · 32 announced
  11. + DiplomacyPoor odds16 devs · median $100k · 28 announced
  12. + SteampunkPoor odds10 devs · median $78k · 49 announced

All 234 pairs on the Survival page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense older $24.99 12,607 86% 378k $9.5M (exactly $9,451,468) AutoAttack Games
Bad North: Jotunn Edition older $14.99 12,344 93% 370k $5.6M (exactly $5,551,097) Plausible Concept, Oskar Stålberg
Despot's Game: Dystopian Battle Simulator older $19.99 2,878 83% 86k $1.7M (exactly $1,725,937) Konfa Games
The Last Flame $19.99 2,744 85% 82k $1.6M (exactly $1,645,577) Hotloop
Garbage older $14.99 1,003 66% 30k $451k (exactly $451,049) Homebased
Nomad Survival older $4.99 1,517 87% 46k $227k (exactly $227,095) The Fox Knocks
Poly TD $7.99 587 82% 18k $141k (exactly $140,704) Naroot
Wireworks $6.99 614 89% 18k $129k (exactly $128,756) JJJ
Candy Disaster - Tower Defense older $13.99 250 81% 7.5k $105k (exactly $104,925) ACE Entertainment
Infinite Tao older $3.99 852 79% 26k $102k (exactly $101,984) insomnia
City Defense Z $9.99 300 74% 9.0k $90k (exactly $89,910) Good Mood Games
Abyss Kitchen $11.99 202 89% 6.1k $73k (exactly $72,659) Pico Games
Kingdom Ascension $11.99 200 82% 6.0k $72k (exactly $71,940) RainRingStudio
All Aboard! The Train Defense Express $4.99 379 84% 11k $57k (exactly $56,736) Likadev
Folk Emerging $24.99 73 86% 2.2k $55k (exactly $54,728) Curious Dynamics
Mythic Battlegrounds: Demonic Siege $14.99 80 73% 2.4k $36k (exactly $35,976) DochiGames
Incrempire $6.99 167 68% 5.0k $35k (exactly $35,020) FMGames, Regnum Noctis

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