Games › Survival › Survival + Escape Room
Should I ship an Escape Room Survival game?
Survival + Escape Room
Only 14 developers shipped an Escape Room Survival game 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, Emissary Zero, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 18 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 $5.6k, ×8.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $3.6k; 1 in 20 cleared $720k, ×1152 the market median. Revenue is up 190% on the market; 18 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.6k (exactly $5,571) |
| Top 25% | $131k (exactly $130,876) |
| Top 5% | $724k (exactly $723,605) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 26 |
| Announced | 18 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 190% on the market, supply 25% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 4%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Survival
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Escape Room
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Escape Room; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Survival Horror, Action
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 74% positive over 4,409 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $3.6k. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 18 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different second tag, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Granny | older | $7.99 | 10,940 94% | 328k | $2.6M (exactly $2,622,318) | DVloper |
| | Emissary Zero | $8.99 | 2,683 83% | 80k | $724k (exactly $723,605) | Rone Vine | |
| | ABYSS OF THE SACRIFICE | older | $39.99 | 238 81% | 7.1k | $286k (exactly $285,529) | INTENSE |
| | Titanic Escape Simulator™ | $19.99 | 374 52% | 11k | $224k (exactly $224,288) | magicprostudio, Vintage Digital Revival | |
| | Space Quest™ Collection | older | $19.99 | 334 85% | 10k | $200k (exactly $200,300) | Sierra |
| | The Backrooms 1998 - Found Footage Survival Horror Game | $9.99 | 589 80% | 18k | $177k (exactly $176,523) | Steelkrill Studio | |
| | Backrooms Media | $7.99 | 546 39% | 16k | $131k (exactly $130,876) | NPK Games | |
| | Dreadhalls | older | $9.99 | 334 93% | 10k | $100k (exactly $100,100) | White Door Games |
| | Anglerfish | older | $9.99 | 271 82% | 8.1k | $81k (exactly $81,219) | Professional Villains |
| | OYASUMII | $6.99 | 98 83% | 2.9k | $21k (exactly $20,551) | NEO PROJECT Studios | |
| | Project Breakout | $9.99 | 26 65% | 780 | $7.8k (exactly $7,792) | maxkerpen | |
| | Cult of the Child Eater | · EA | $5.99 | 31 64% | 930 | $5.6k (exactly $5,571) | Uncle George Games |
| | Another Door: Escape Room | $19.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $4.8k (exactly $4,798) | SKONEC Entertainment, YOUCANSTAR | |
| | Deep Line | $3.99 | 39 79% | 1.2k | $4.7k (exactly $4,668) | DrugTank | |
| | LINGKARAN:リンカラン | $7.99 | 15 40% | 450 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Torisan Co., Ltd. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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