Games › Collectathon › Collectathon + Psychological Horror
Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Collectathon game?
Collectathon + Psychological Horror
Of 63 developers who shipped a Psychological-Horror Collectathon 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.. 74 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $140k, ×295 the market median. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 74 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $269 (exactly $269) |
|---|---|
| Median | $718 (exactly $718) |
| Top 25% | $7.3k (exactly $7,253) |
| Top 5% | $140k (exactly $140,330) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 63 |
| Released games | 180 |
| Announced | 74 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 30% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Collectathon
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Psychological Horror
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Collectathon; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Puzzle
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Dark, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 7,450 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $270. 8 in 10 of the 39 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 74 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Collectathon with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + CapitalismStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + EconomyFair
- + ManagementFair
- + CrimeFair
- + Level EditorFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + SokobanFair
- + MythologyFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + Combat RacingFair
Comparable games
Lunch Lady 2021 · $1.5M 
Broken Reality 2018 · $968k 
Boo Men 2022 · EA · $500k 
Supermarket Chaos 2026 · $489k 
Enter The Backrooms 2021 · $296k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Lunch Lady | older | $4.99 | 9,722 86% | 292k | $1.5M (exactly $1,455,383) | Manic Mice |
| | Broken Reality | older | $14.99 | 2,152 92% | 65k | $968k (exactly $967,754) | Dynamic Media Triad |
| | Boo Men | · EA older | $7.99 | 2,088 88% | 63k | $500k (exactly $500,494) | Twisted Corridor👻 |
| | Supermarket Chaos | $4.99 | 3,266 92% | 98k | $489k (exactly $488,920) | BunnyHop | |
| | Enter The Backrooms | older | $9.99 | 986 87% | 30k | $296k (exactly $295,504) | Justin Kroh |
 | Paranormal Cleanup | $9.99 | 961 88% | 29k | $288k (exactly $288,012) | Manic Mice | |
 | Garage: Bad Dream Adventure | older | $19.90 | 364 97% | 11k | $217k (exactly $217,308) | 作場金属製作所 Sakuba Metal Works, SmokymonkeyS |
 | Dread X Collection 2 | older | $9.99 | 573 93% | 17k | $172k (exactly $171,728) | DreadXP, David Szymanski, Torple Dook,… (DreadXP, David Szymanski, Torple Dook, Lovely Hellplace, Scythe Dev Team, Secret Cow Level, panstasz, Mahelyk, Daniel Mullins Games, Wither Studios, Akabaka, Vidas Salavejus, Wayward Preacher, John Szymanski, Bathysfear Labs, Abbey 'Scruncho' Smith) |
 | Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1 | older | $9.99 | 533 98% | 16k | $160k (exactly $159,740) | Cosmo D |
 | Anomalous Coffee Machine 2 | $6.99 | 753 81% | 23k | $158k (exactly $157,904) | HoruBrain Interactive | |
 | While Waiting | $19.99 | 234 75% | 7.0k | $140k (exactly $140,330) | Optillusion | |
 | Chicken Hill | $2.99 | 1,134 99% | 34k | $102k (exactly $101,720) | 梗立游戏 | |
 | Babushka's Glitch Dungeon | $5.99 | 259 98% | 7.8k | $47k (exactly $46,542) | pets club 2 | |
 | Interdimensional Vending Machine | $7.99 | 185 84% | 5.6k | $44k (exactly $44,344) | Neuroticfly Games | |
 | Jeffrey Eggstein | · EA | $4.99 | 290 94% | 8.7k | $43k (exactly $43,413) | Grabba Guild Games LLC |
 | Playing House | $6.99 | 197 94% | 5.9k | $41k (exactly $41,311) | 鬱薔薇檸檬(UtubaraLemon) | |
 | Dark Succubus | $6.99 | 171 77% | 5.1k | $36k (exactly $35,859) | ZC Game |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.