Games › Dating Sim › Dating Sim + Lovecraftian
Should I ship a Lovecraftian Dating Sim?
Dating Sim + Lovecraftian
Only 15 developers shipped a Lovecraftian Dating Sim in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Heart Cage, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 27 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, ×3.0 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $220k, ×481 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 27 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $240 (exactly $240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $20,236) |
| Top 5% | $229k (exactly $228,581) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 40 |
| Announced | 27 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 95% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Dating Sim
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
- Lovecraftian
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Dating Sim; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Multiple Endings, Puzzle
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $20.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Anime, 2D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $20.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 97% positive over 2,204 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 27 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dating Sim with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + WarStrong odds
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Souls-likeStrong odds
- + AliensStrong odds
- + PlatformerStrong odds
- + HistoricalFair
- + FPSFair
- + Post-apocalypticFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Action-AdventureFair
- + TacticalFair
Comparable games
Scarlet Hollow 2021 · EA · $4.3M 
Yog-Sothoth’s Yard 2023 · $3.4M 
Sucker for Love: First Date 2022 · $804k 
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For 2024 · $465k 
Heart Cage 2025 · $229k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Scarlet Hollow | · EA older | $29.99 | 4,833 97% | 145k | $4.3M (exactly $4,348,250) | Black Tabby Games |
| | Yog-Sothoth’s Yard | older | $10.99 | 10,207 93% | 306k | $3.4M (exactly $3,365,248) | Bone Nail |
| | Sucker for Love: First Date | older | $9.99 | 2,683 98% | 80k | $804k (exactly $804,095) | Akabaka |
| | Sucker for Love: Date to Die For | older | $12.99 | 1,194 95% | 36k | $465k (exactly $465,302) | Akabaka |
| | Heart Cage | $20.99 | 363 97% | 11k | $229k (exactly $228,581) | RiceLoveCoffee | |
 | Devil Girl | older | $9.99 | 668 85% | 20k | $200k (exactly $200,200) | BananaKing, 台灣香蕉王 |
 | Mask of the Rose | older | $19.99 | 260 76% | 7.8k | $156k (exactly $155,922) | Failbetter Games |
 | Horse Magnifier: The Full Horse | $2.99 | 1,401 99% | 42k | $126k (exactly $125,670) | sketbordcat | |
 | Make Her Cum | older | $14.99 | 186 65% | 5.6k | $84k (exactly $83,644) | DreamBig Games, Lemonhaze Studio |
 | Find the Demon 恶魔鉴定守则 | $7.99 | 346 89% | 10k | $83k (exactly $82,936) | SHAKINO_UNION | |
 | RAVENSBURG | $14.99 | 45 95% | 1.4k | $20k (exactly $20,236) | Lilian Duleroux | |
 | Days with Evraco: The Blind witch in Blue Forest | $24.99 | 12 75% | 360 | $9.0k (exactly $8,996) | Just kidding entertainment, Plumko | |
 | Ravager - Moon-Friendly Edition | · EA | $19.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) | 4MinuteWarning |
 | Gummy Bear Idle: No Job, Just Jelly♥. | $13.99 | 4 25% | 120 | $1.7k (exactly $1,679) | WeissGarden, Plumko, Atlas, The Thinker… (WeissGarden, Plumko, Atlas, The Thinker Cat) | |
 | Futanari's Secret: The Forest | $2.99 | 16 93% | 480 | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) | Red Sasori | |
 | Escape Line | $2.00 | 11 90% | 330 | $660 (exactly $660) | 莫林MoRing | |
 | Transforming my fiancée | $9.99 | 2 0% | 60 | $599 (exactly $599) | FSK20006 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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