Games › Automation › Automation + Psychological Horror
Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Automation game?
Automation + Psychological Horror
Only 14 developers shipped a Psychological-Horror Automation game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Project P.I.T.T., made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 22 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $16k, ×26 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $3.6k; 1 in 20 cleared $280k, ×459 the market median. Revenue is up 835% on the market; 22 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $3.6k (exactly $3,594) |
|---|---|
| Median | $16k (exactly $16,160) |
| Top 25% | $24k (exactly $23,900) |
| Top 5% | $288k (exactly $288,012) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 34 |
| Announced | 22 |
| 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 up 835% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 29%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Automation
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Psychological Horror
- 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
- Automation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Incremental, Simulation, Idler
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Pixel Graphics, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 3,389 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $3.6k. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 22 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Automation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + Female ProtagonistStrong odds
- + Open World Survival CraftFair
- + HorrorFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + Class-BasedFair
- + MiningFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + FishingFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
Comparable games
SHENZHEN I/O 2016 · $1.7M 
TIS-100 2015 · $711k 
Regular Human Workshop 2022 · $360k 
Sixty Four 2024 · $288k 
Project P.I.T.T. 2026 · $288k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SHENZHEN I/O | older | $14.99 | 3,746 95% | 112k | $1.7M (exactly $1,684,576) | Zachtronics |
| | TIS-100 | older | $6.99 | 3,391 97% | 102k | $711k (exactly $711,093) | Zachtronics |
| | Regular Human Workshop | older | $9.99 | 1,201 89% | 36k | $360k (exactly $359,940) | Dead Joker |
| | Sixty Four | older | $5.99 | 1,604 73% | 48k | $288k (exactly $288,239) | Oleg Danilov |
| | Project P.I.T.T. | $9.99 | 961 78% | 29k | $288k (exactly $288,012) | Froke | |
 | Tingus Goose | $6.99 | 1,224 89% | 37k | $257k (exactly $256,673) | SweatyChair | |
 | [ECHOSTASIS] | older | $19.99 | 215 90% | 6.5k | $129k (exactly $128,935) | ENIGMA STUDIO |
 | Tunnet | older | $5.99 | 699 94% | 21k | $126k (exactly $125,610) | puzzled_squid |
 | Execute | $5.99 | 679 91% | 20k | $122k (exactly $122,016) | Payne Robinson | |
 | Alan's Automaton Workshop | older | $14.99 | 196 82% | 5.9k | $88k (exactly $88,141) | Laputa Labs |
 | Progress Racer RPG | $5.99 | 133 94% | 4.0k | $24k (exactly $23,900) | Cameron Ladjevardi, David Elliot | |
 | Beyond the Doors | · EA | $8.99 | 75 72% | 2.3k | $20k (exactly $20,228) | Dream Error |
 | Greedy Greedy Gnomes | $5.99 | 104 74% | 3.1k | $19k (exactly $18,689) | Nautlander | |
 | Your Second Wife | $3.99 | 135 84% | 4.1k | $16k (exactly $16,160) | Kygua Tech | |
 | DOLL INC | · EA | $6.99 | 38 65% | 1.1k | $8.0k (exactly $7,969) | David Gallardo |
 | Company is watching | $6.99 | 20 100% | 600 | $4.2k (exactly $4,194) | Wyyne | |
 | BAR | $5.99 | 20 70% | 600 | $3.6k (exactly $3,594) | TechieMay |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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