Do I ship it?

Games › Survival › Survival + Card Battler

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Card Battler Survival game?

Survival + Card Battler

Of 46 developers who shipped a Card 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.. 79 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $89; 1 in 20 cleared $70k, ×113 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 79 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue down 50% on the market, 79 announced, ×2.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Survival + Card Battler
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 46
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $299 → $269 → $4.6k → $3.5k → $599 → $1.2k (still earning) → $599 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Survival + Card Battler: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 46
Bottom 30% $89 (exactly $89)
Median $719 (exactly $719)
Top 25% $11k (exactly $10,793)
Top 5% $71k (exactly $70,848)
Developers, 2 yr 46
Released games 90
Announced 79
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.00

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 50% on the market, supply 105% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, 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
Card Battler
effort 3 / 10 · high · card rules plus simple encounter logic

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, Card Battler; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Card Game, Strategy, Deckbuilding
Price point
$5.00 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Art
8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $5.00.

The top 10 games average 70% positive over 1,375 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $89, median $720, 1 in 4 over $10k, 1 in 20 over $70k.

3 in 10 developers made under $89. 9 in 10 of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 79 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.

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. + Auto BattlerFair79 devs · median $807 · 90 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair101 devs · median $599 · 130 announced
  9. + DogsFair20 devs · median $535 · 19 announced
  10. + Martial ArtsLong shot19 devs · median $419 · 17 announced
  11. + Boomer ShooterLong shot39 devs · median $359 · 32 announced
  12. + DiplomacyPoor odds16 devs · median $100k · 28 announced

All 234 pairs on the Survival page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Stacklands 2022 · $7.0M Tainted Grail: Conquest 2021 · $4.6M Ratropolis 2020 · $2.8M 天外武林 (Traveler of Wuxia) 2023 · $2.4M Thea 2: The Shattering 2019 · $1.4M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Stacklands older $7.99 29,244 96% 877k $7.0M (exactly $7,009,787) Sokpop Collective
Tainted Grail: Conquest older $19.99 7,589 90% 228k $4.6M (exactly $4,551,123) Questline
Ratropolis older $17.99 5,187 87% 156k $2.8M (exactly $2,799,424) Cassel Games
天外武林 (Traveler of Wuxia) older $24.99 3,151 85% 95k $2.4M (exactly $2,362,305) 香港商河洛互動娛樂股份有限公司
Thea 2: The Shattering older $24.99 1,892 79% 57k $1.4M (exactly $1,418,432) MuHa Games, Eerie Forest Studio
Faeria older $19.99 1,520 83% 46k $912k (exactly $911,544) Abrakam Entertainment SA
WitchHand older $11.99 616 90% 18k $222k (exactly $221,575) Jon Nielsen
Endless Road: Reborn older $9.99 431 74% 13k $129k (exactly $129,171) 掌烛文化
Stack to Ascension $12.99 331 54% 9.9k $129k (exactly $128,991) Stack to Ascension
Artist Life Simulator older $19.99 173 79% 5.2k $104k (exactly $103,748) Interactive Fate
Snow Ash $14.99 179 73% 5.4k $80k (exactly $80,496) Ember Studio
Stellar Orphans $16.99 139 71% 4.2k $71k (exactly $70,848) Artifex Parvus
Drunken Rogue $9.99 194 94% 5.8k $58k (exactly $58,142) 2.6 billion years studio
The Dead Await $12.99 108 67% 3.2k $42k (exactly $42,088) Shotx
Paper Kingdom $12.99 65 61% 2.0k $25k (exactly $25,330) obece
Apocalypse: The Last RV · EA $4.99 159 68% 4.8k $24k (exactly $23,802) 光年切片工作室
Decks of the Damned $9.99 54 68% 1.6k $16k (exactly $16,184) Thorian Games
It's time, Your Majesty $6.99 77 64% 2.3k $16k (exactly $16,147) String studio
Cheater's Table · EA $6.99 69 95% 2.1k $14k (exactly $14,469) Lagari

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