Games › Survival › Survival + Crime
Should I ship a Crime Survival game?
Survival + Crime
Of 35 developers who shipped a Crime 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.. 56 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.6k, ×2.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $310k, ×502 the market median. Revenue is up 1170% on the market; 56 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.6k (exactly $1,559) |
| Top 25% | $8.4k (exactly $8,383) |
| Top 5% | $316k (exactly $315,549) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 35 |
| Released games | 97 |
| Announced | 56 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 1170% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
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 Adventure, Action, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Atmospheric, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 6,989 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Social DeductionFair
- + Word GameFair
- + CatsFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + DogsFair
- + Martial ArtsLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me | older | $39.99 | 3,778 56% | 113k | $4.5M (exactly $4,532,467) | Supermassive Games |
| | HENPRI | $24.99 | 3,903 96% | 117k | $2.9M (exactly $2,926,079) | Qruppo | |
| | CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience | older | $19.99 | 2,596 91% | 78k | $1.6M (exactly $1,556,821) | Delve Interactive |
| | Hard Time III | older | $14.99 | 929 85% | 28k | $418k (exactly $417,771) | MDickie |
| | Misty Judgment | $8.99 | 1,170 92% | 35k | $316k (exactly $315,549) | 次元边界 | |
| | Evil School | $7.99 | 1,058 92% | 32k | $254k (exactly $253,603) | CineGame Interactive | |
| | This Is the President | older | $14.99 | 359 67% | 11k | $161k (exactly $161,442) | SuperPAC |
| | BrokenLore: UNFOLLOW | $19.99 | 247 73% | 7.4k | $148k (exactly $148,126) | Serafini Productions | |
| | Bum: Revenge | · EA | $9.99 | 367 62% | 11k | $110k (exactly $109,990) | Patologgia Interactive |
| | Doorways: Prelude | older | $9.99 | 351 58% | 11k | $105k (exactly $105,195) | Saibot Studios |
| | My Drug Cartel | · EA | $24.99 | 48 50% | 1.4k | $36k (exactly $35,986) | Gigicom |
| | Paradise: Musubi | $14.99 | 73 98% | 2.2k | $33k (exactly $32,828) | PIL/SLASH | |
| | She's Leaving | $6.99 | 41 92% | 1.2k | $8.6k (exactly $8,598) | Blue Hat Studio | |
| | CASE RECORDS: Lost Night | $4.99 | 56 46% | 1.7k | $8.4k (exactly $8,383) | Walnut LLC | |
| | Eat the Rich: Greed Games | $7.99 | 26 96% | 780 | $6.2k (exactly $6,232) | Maccima Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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