Do I ship it?

GamesSurvivalSurvival + Cats

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Cat Survival game?

Survival + Cats

Of 33 developers who shipped a Cat 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.. 34 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×1.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is up 75% on the market; 34 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 75% on the market, 34 announced, ×1.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Survival + Cats
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 33
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $5.0k → $987 → $2.9k → $683 → $1.4k → $1.2k (still earning) → $449 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Survival + Cats: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 33
Bottom 30% $358 (exactly $358)
Median $1.2k (exactly $1,166)
Top 25% $3.3k (exactly $3,297)
Top 5% $20k (exactly $20,236)
Developers, 2 yr 33
Released games 82
Announced 34
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 75% on the market, supply 130% 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
Cats
effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 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; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelite, Action, Adventure
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 518 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $360, median $1.2k, 1 in 4 over $3.2k, 1 in 20 over $20k.

3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Survival with a different setting or mood, 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. + CollectathonFair77 devs · median $1.0k · 84 announced
  5. + IdlerFair96 devs · median $836 · 99 announced
  6. + Auto BattlerFair79 devs · median $807 · 90 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
Atomicrops older $14.99 5,134 93% 154k $2.3M (exactly $2,308,760) Bird Bath Games
Cattails | Become a Cat! older $14.99 2,315 95% 69k $1.0M (exactly $1,041,056) Falcon Development
MewnBase older $9.99 1,331 92% 40k $399k (exactly $398,901) Cairn4
Cat Bait · EA older $4.99 1,446 96% 43k $216k (exactly $216,466) Mayni prod.
Catizens $17.77 214 81% 6.4k $114k (exactly $114,083) badopticsgames
Backrooms Cats and Lava older $29.99 105 79% 3.2k $94k (exactly $94,468) Galactic Geckon
Apocalyptic cat older $29.99 101 84% 3.0k $91k (exactly $90,870) Galactic Geckon
The WILDS · EA older $4.99 584 75% 18k $87k (exactly $87,425) Gluten Free Games
Sons Of The Dream Forest · EA older $4.99 318 9% 9.5k $48k (exactly $47,605) SimulatorLife
Animal Rescuer older $14.99 97 67% 2.9k $44k (exactly $43,621) Turquoise Revival Games
Cat Girl Survivor $14.99 45 55% 1.4k $20k (exactly $20,236) Minimum Studio Corp.
Sausage Hunter · EA $4.99 125 88% 3.8k $19k (exactly $18,712) Banger Chasers
Mistpaw Ravine $15.99 36 94% 1.1k $17k (exactly $17,269) Jon Nielsen
Paws Against the World $6.99 28 78% 840 $5.9k (exactly $5,872) GoldenGod Games
Cat Guardian $7.99 19 84% 570 $4.6k (exactly $4,554) Yaeegy
RAZE $9.99 14 100% 420 $4.2k (exactly $4,196) RAZE CLUB
DarkRay $9.99 12 91% 360 $3.6k (exactly $3,596) EuroGamesStudio
Meow Survivors $9.99 11 63% 330 $3.3k (exactly $3,297) ILYA KURTAEV
Vampire Cat $6.99 14 78% 420 $2.9k (exactly $2,936) Hunt Games

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