Games › Economy › Economy + Psychological Horror
Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Economy game?
Economy + Psychological Horror
Of 22 developers who shipped a Psychological-Horror Economy 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.. 28 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×4.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $120k, ×194 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 28 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $298 (exactly $298) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,696) |
| Top 25% | $19k (exactly $18,689) |
| Top 5% | $122k (exactly $122,016) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 22 |
| Released games | 48 |
| Announced | 28 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 70% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Economy
- 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
- Economy; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Incremental, Management, Simulation
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Surreal, First-Person, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 3,736 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 28 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Economy with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Football (Soccer)Fair
- + ScienceFair
- + MiningFair
- + LootFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + God GameFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
Comparable games
Cities: Skylines II 2023 · $96M 
Cooking Simulator VR 2021 · $953k 
Rento Fortune: Online Dice Board Game (大富翁) 2017 · $459k 
Pizza Connection 3 2018 · $401k 
Tingus Goose 2025 · $257k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Cities: Skylines II | older | $49.99 | 64,211 57% | 1.9M | $96M (exactly $96,297,237) | Iceflake Studios, Colossal Order |
| | Cooking Simulator VR | older | $19.99 | 1,589 74% | 48k | $953k (exactly $952,923) | Big Cheese Studio |
| | Rento Fortune: Online Dice Board Game (大富翁) | older | $4.99 | 3,063 50% | 92k | $459k (exactly $458,531) | LAN - GAMES LTD |
| | Pizza Connection 3 | older | $19.99 | 668 48% | 20k | $401k (exactly $400,600) | Gentlymad Studios |
| | Tingus Goose | $6.99 | 1,224 89% | 37k | $257k (exactly $256,673) | SweatyChair | |
 | The Invisible Hand | older | $12.99 | 505 81% | 15k | $197k (exactly $196,798) | Power Struggle Games |
 | Airplane Mode | older | $11.99 | 355 67% | 11k | $128k (exactly $127,694) | Bacronym |
 | Execute | $5.99 | 679 91% | 20k | $122k (exactly $122,016) | Payne Robinson | |
 | The Unholy Priest | $9.99 | 370 72% | 11k | $111k (exactly $110,889) | Grejuva | |
 | ROGUE LIGHT DECK BUILDER | $3.99 | 888 94% | 27k | $106k (exactly $106,294) | Gil Lawson | |
 | Egg Squeeze | $3.99 | 374 98% | 11k | $45k (exactly $44,768) | MATTER GAMES | |
 | Greedy Greedy Gnomes | $5.99 | 104 74% | 3.1k | $19k (exactly $18,689) | Nautlander | |
 | Zombie Chef | $9.99 | 40 50% | 1.2k | $12k (exactly $11,988) | Voidy | |
 | Planet Scanner | $7.99 | 29 96% | 870 | $7.0k (exactly $6,951) | Ham Goblin | |
 | Whistling Waters | $9.99 | 18 83% | 540 | $5.4k (exactly $5,395) | Luna Apps | |
 | TradingLife | · EA | $11.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.6k (exactly $3,597) | Fun(ctor) Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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