Games › Survival › Survival + Collectathon
Should I ship a Collectathon Survival game?
Survival + Collectathon
Of 77 developers who shipped a Collectathon 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.. 84 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $180. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 84 games are announced against 46 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
| Top 25% | $7.2k (exactly $7,186) |
| Top 5% | $144k (exactly $143,957) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 77 |
| Released games | 220 |
| Announced | 84 |
| 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 10% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, 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
- Collectathon
- 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, Collectathon; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Crafting, Exploration
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 4,134 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 44 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 84 games are announced against 46 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
- + IdlerFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + DogsFair
- + Martial ArtsLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
- + SteampunkPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Welcome to Elderfield | $17.99 | 1,334 87% | 40k | $720k (exactly $719,960) | Chris Cote | |
| | holoVillage: Our Cozy Days | $24.99 | 518 83% | 16k | $388k (exactly $388,345) | Roboqlo | |
| | Enter The Backrooms | older | $9.99 | 986 87% | 30k | $296k (exactly $295,504) | Justin Kroh |
| | Sea Fantasy | $14.99 | 585 86% | 18k | $263k (exactly $263,074) | METASLA | |
| | 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 |
| | Old School | older | $14.99 | 442 83% | 13k | $199k (exactly $198,767) | MDickie |
| | Creature Crafter | older | $7.99 | 745 86% | 22k | $179k (exactly $178,576) | Daniel Lochner |
| | 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) |
| | Morels: The Hunt | older | $19.99 | 260 86% | 7.8k | $156k (exactly $155,922) | Abrams Studios |
| | 硬币与仙人掌 (Coins & Wishpalm) | $13.99 | 343 77% | 10k | $144k (exactly $143,957) | Moshow Games | |
| | Dig Island | · EA | $14.99 | 282 86% | 8.5k | $127k (exactly $126,815) | FiftyEight Studios |
| | Cultivation Magic World | · EA | $12.99 | 276 78% | 8.3k | $108k (exactly $107,557) | DMG Studio |
| | Abyss Kitchen | $11.99 | 202 89% | 6.1k | $73k (exactly $72,659) | Pico Games | |
| | Deadline Escape | · EA | $4.99 | 433 84% | 13k | $65k (exactly $64,820) | DeadlineEscape |
| | Creature Keeper | $14.99 | 101 67% | 3.0k | $45k (exactly $45,420) | Fervir Games | |
| | OddFauna : Secret of the Terrabeast | · EA | $24.99 | 60 90% | 1.8k | $45k (exactly $44,982) | North Channel |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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