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Should I ship a Horror Battle Royale?
Battle Royale + Horror
Only 18 developers shipped a Horror Battle Royale 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, Final Sentence, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 34 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 10 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480 in the last 2 years and $480 over 4, against a market of $1.3k for a 10 / 10 build. 11 developers shipped in the last year and 34 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $480 (exactly $480) |
| Top 25% | $5.4k (exactly $5,433) |
| Top 5% | $328k (exactly $328,172) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 53 |
| Announced | 34 |
| Effort | 10 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 80% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 23%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Battle Royale
- effort 10 / 10 · low · 100-player servers and constant live ops
- Horror
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 10 / 10 · studio only
- Systems
- Battle Royale; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Survival Horror, PvP, Survival
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 1,549 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Battle Royale with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Immersive SimFair
- + MysteryLong shot
- + LootPoor odds
- + SportsPoor odds
- + Hero ShooterPoor odds
- + PuzzlePoor odds
- + Psychological HorrorPoor odds
- + Dungeon CrawlerPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + 4 Player LocalPoor odds
- + RoguelitePoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hunt: Showdown 1896 | older | $29.99 | 213,023 74% | 6.4M | $192M (exactly $191,656,793) | Crytek |
| | Final Sentence | $9.99 | 1,095 84% | 33k | $328k (exactly $328,172) | Button Mash | |
| | Bean Battles | older | $0.99 | 6,783 94% | 203k | $201k (exactly $201,455) | Gupa Games |
| | Bail or Jail(OBAKEIDORO!) | older | $19.99 | 188 81% | 5.6k | $113k (exactly $112,744) | FREE STYLE, Inc., KONAMI |
| | Among Ass | older | $4.99 | 378 80% | 11k | $57k (exactly $56,587) | Volens Nolens Games |
| | Eve of Souls: Static Pod | · EA older | $2.99 | 468 95% | 14k | $42k (exactly $41,980) | LighTea Fish Studio |
| | NIGHT CROW | older | $15.99 | 85 68% | 2.6k | $41k (exactly $40,774) | Ge-Aivan |
| | Back:Fade | $6.99 | 191 76% | 5.7k | $40k (exactly $40,053) | MYSTERY CROWN | |
| | Vienkiemis | · EA | $12.99 | 44 100% | 1.3k | $17k (exactly $17,147) | dssob, SMEIVIS |
| | Five Nights: No Escape | older | $9.99 | 33 66% | 990 | $9.9k (exactly $9,890) | Fun Cradle |
| | Only Out | $4.99 | 40 95% | 1.2k | $6.0k (exactly $5,988) | Shark Studio | |
| | Idiom Royale | $1.99 | 91 63% | 2.7k | $5.4k (exactly $5,433) | NyxWorks | |
| | CipherMind | $7.99 | 18 77% | 540 | $4.3k (exactly $4,315) | Pigeon Games | |
| | Maniac Path 3 | $9.99 | 12 100% | 360 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Gamesforgames | |
| | 鬼灵的冒险GUILING's Adventure | $1.99 | 54 94% | 1.6k | $3.2k (exactly $3,224) | 硅晶石工作室Sicrystal Studio | |
| | SurrounDead Poly Japan Sakura | · EA | $15.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $480 (exactly $480) | LivingEveryday |
| | Roach Royale | $3.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $359 (exactly $359) | MOLOT |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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