Games › Survival › Survival + Beat 'em up
Should I ship a Beat 'em up Survival game?
Survival + Beat 'em up
Of 61 developers who shipped a Beat 'em up 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.. 63 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 34 developers shipped in the last year and 63 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $89 (exactly $89) |
|---|---|
| Median | $299 (exactly $299) |
| Top 25% | $900 (exactly $900) |
| Top 5% | $12k (exactly $11,692) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 61 |
| Released games | 189 |
| Announced | 63 |
| 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 up 80% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, 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
- Beat 'em up
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Beat 'em up; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Combat
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $8.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $8.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 648 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $89. 9 in 10 of the 33 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 63 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different second tag, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | DEAD RISING® | older | $9.99 | 5,751 89% | 173k | $1.7M (exactly $1,723,575) | Capcom |
| | Skybreakers | older | $8.99 | 629 75% | 19k | $170k (exactly $169,641) | Bingo Studio |
| | Zombie Training Simulator | older | $19.99 | 227 92% | 6.8k | $136k (exactly $136,132) | Acceleroto, Inc. |
| | Chicken Assassin: Reloaded | older | $4.99 | 715 94% | 21k | $107k (exactly $107,036) | OneShark |
| | Abyss Kitchen | $11.99 | 202 89% | 6.1k | $73k (exactly $72,659) | Pico Games | |
| | WILD SEX: WET GIRLS | older | $9.99 | 203 60% | 6.1k | $61k (exactly $60,839) | Octo Games |
| | universe treasure | older | $13.99 | 91 58% | 2.7k | $38k (exactly $38,193) | モンスター研 |
| | MoonMiners | · EA | $4.99 | 200 93% | 6.0k | $30k (exactly $29,940) | MIROWIN |
| | My Night Job | older | $9.99 | 58 82% | 1.7k | $17k (exactly $17,383) | Webcore Games |
| | Food Chain | · EA older | $7.99 | 69 59% | 2.1k | $17k (exactly $16,539) | Kozhakov |
| | Gorilla Vs 100 Men | $4.99 | 81 70% | 2.4k | $12k (exactly $12,126) | GrodGames | |
| | Adrenaline Rampage | $14.99 | 26 88% | 780 | $12k (exactly $11,692) | Midhard Games | |
| | Apocalypse Survivors | $8.99 | 26 57% | 780 | $7.0k (exactly $7,012) | The Last One | |
| | Project Lazarus 2 | $6.99 | 33 75% | 990 | $6.9k (exactly $6,920) | Terapoly | |
| | Dough or Die | · EA | $7.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $3.8k (exactly $3,835) | Soundbyte Interactive |
| | Tokyo Waning Moon | $3.99 | 25 92% | 750 | $3.0k (exactly $2,992) | Midnight Cupcakes | |
| | Flee the fallen | $4.99 | 18 83% | 540 | $2.7k (exactly $2,695) | AM Playhouse | |
| | Super Weapon Master 超级武器大师 | $3.99 | 21 57% | 630 | $2.5k (exactly $2,514) | Idea Cat |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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