Games › Destruction › Destruction + Survival Horror
Should I ship a Destruction Survival Horror?
Destruction + Survival Horror
Only 13 developers shipped a Destruction Survival Horror 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, The Headliners, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 21 more are announced, ×3.0 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 $270; 1 in 20 cleared $2.0M, ×3257 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 21 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $269 (exactly $269) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.6k (exactly $1,559) |
| Top 25% | $29k (exactly $29,230) |
| Top 5% | $2.0M (exactly $2,045,600) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 27 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Destruction
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Survival Horror
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Destruction, Survival Horror; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action-Adventure, Action, Adventure
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 1990's, Dark
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $18.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 11,653 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $270. 8 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 21 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Destruction with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Space SimFair
- + ModernFair
- + God GameFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CapitalismPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Automobile SimPoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Headliners | $7.99 | 8,534 86% | 256k | $2.0M (exactly $2,045,600) | KAFI | |
| | Kill It With Fire | older | $12.99 | 4,036 95% | 121k | $1.6M (exactly $1,572,829) | Casey Donnellan Games LLC |
| | Funnel Runners | · EA | $14.99 | 2,941 83% | 88k | $1.3M (exactly $1,322,568) | Supernova Studios LLC |
| | FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction | older | $9.99 | 3,672 17% | 110k | $1.1M (exactly $1,100,498) | Team 6 Studios |
| | RIPOUT | older | $19.99 | 783 65% | 23k | $470k (exactly $469,565) | Pet Project Games |
| | Ed-0: Zombie Uprising | older | $29.99 | 211 72% | 6.3k | $190k (exactly $189,837) | LANCARSE |
| | Backrooms Break | older | $8.99 | 385 70% | 12k | $104k (exactly $103,834) | Jan Jileček |
| | Decimate Drive | older | $7.99 | 321 91% | 9.6k | $77k (exactly $76,944) | Some Random Designing |
| | Sera's Adventure -Cave of Destruction- | $18.99 | 76 53% | 2.3k | $43k (exactly $43,297) | 渡里laboratory | |
| | The Strange City | $14.99 | 65 47% | 2.0k | $29k (exactly $29,230) | Newmatic Co., Ltd. | |
| | SUBMERSIBLE | $8.99 | 10 80% | 300 | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) | CJB Games | |
| | HEAVENSHATTER | $4.99 | 16 93% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | Raifu | |
| | The Boston Breeder | $12.99 | 4 25% | 120 | $1.6k (exactly $1,559) | LostWorks | |
| | Voldark | $11.99 | 3 0% | 90 | $1.1k (exactly $1,079) | OzbalHan | |
| | Glory Defence | $9.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | Waytrel Studio | |
| | 箍の外れたビスクドール | $2.99 | 3 33% | 90 | $269 (exactly $269) | おんねんちゃんねる |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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