Games › Combat › Combat + Psychological Horror
Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Combat game?
Combat + Psychological Horror
Of 147 developers who shipped a Psychological-Horror Combat 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.. 338 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×3.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $1.0M, ×1603 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 338 games are announced against 74 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $539 (exactly $539) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,246) |
| Top 25% | $19k (exactly $18,862) |
| Top 5% | $1.0M (exactly $1,006,500) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 147 |
| Released games | 387 |
| Announced | 338 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 30% on the market, supply as many developers as 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.
- Combat
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Psychological Horror
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Combat; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Survival Horror, Adventure
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, First-Person, Story Rich
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 99,873 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 84 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 338 games are announced against 74 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Combat with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Real-Time with PauseStrong odds
- + 4XFair
- + TypingFair
- + VampiresFair
- + SnowFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Match 3Long shot
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Political SimPoor odds
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ready or Not | older | $49.99 | 265,219 79% | 8.0M | $398M (exactly $397,748,934) | VOID Interactive |
| | Dead Space | older | $59.99 | 62,997 90% | 1.9M | $113M (exactly $113,375,701) | Motive |
| | SILENT HILL f | $69.99 | 19,061 80% | 572k | $40M (exactly $40,022,382) | NeoBards Entertainment Ltd. | |
| | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition | older | $59.99 | 15,628 80% | 469k | $28M (exactly $28,125,712) | Rockstar Games |
| | Ghostwire: Tokyo | older | $59.99 | 12,954 83% | 389k | $23M (exactly $23,313,314) | Tango Gameworks |
| | Trepang2 | older | $39.99 | 15,774 93% | 473k | $19M (exactly $18,924,068) | Trepang Studios |
| | Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga | older | $49.99 | 9,381 86% | 281k | $14M (exactly $14,068,686) | Ninja Theory |
| | How to Fish | $7.99 | 57,661 95% | 1.7M | $14M (exactly $13,821,342) | Dazed Games | |
| | Darkwood | older | $19.99 | 22,236 94% | 667k | $13M (exactly $13,334,929) | Acid Wizard Studio |
| | South of Midnight | $39.99 | 4,382 94% | 131k | $5.3M (exactly $5,257,085) | Compulsion Games | |
| | Enigma of Fear | $29.99 | 3,045 95% | 91k | $2.7M (exactly $2,739,586) | Dumativa, Cellbit | |
| | The Sinking City 2 | $49.99 | 1,410 83% | 42k | $2.1M (exactly $2,114,577) | Frogwares | |
| | OFF | $14.99 | 3,093 95% | 93k | $1.4M (exactly $1,390,922) | Mortis Ghost, Fangamer | |
| | Psychopomp GOLD | $8.99 | 4,884 97% | 147k | $1.3M (exactly $1,317,215) | Fading Club | |
| | Machine Party | $7.99 | 4,199 87% | 126k | $1.0M (exactly $1,006,500) | Mike Klubnika, GDeavid | |
| | A.I.L.A | $29.99 | 889 81% | 27k | $800k (exactly $799,833) | Pulsatrix Studios | |
| | Pronoun Palace | $19.84 | 1,249 99% | 37k | $743k (exactly $743,405) | Cadence Petersen, Hazel Fackler |
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.