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Should I ship a Hack and Slash Survival game?
Survival + Hack and Slash
Of 230 developers who shipped a Hack and Slash 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.. 314 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $840, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $280k, ×458 the market median. Revenue is up 65% on the market; 314 games are announced against 144 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $839 (exactly $839) |
| Top 25% | $7.3k (exactly $7,340) |
| Top 5% | $288k (exactly $287,856) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 230 |
| Released games | 568 |
| Announced | 314 |
| 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 65% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, 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
- Hack and Slash
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Hack and Slash; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, RPG
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 114,823 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 97 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 314 games are announced against 144 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 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
Dying Light 2015 · $280M 
MORDHAU 2019 · $82M 
Killing Floor 2 2016 · $78M 
Megabonk 2025 · $30M 
The Riftbreaker 2021 · $20M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dying Light | older | $24.99 | 373,413 95% | 11M | $280M (exactly $279,947,726) | Techland |
| | MORDHAU | older | $29.99 | 91,678 80% | 2.8M | $82M (exactly $82,482,697) | Triternion |
| | Killing Floor 2 | older | $29.99 | 87,158 88% | 2.6M | $78M (exactly $78,416,053) | Tripwire Interactive |
| | Megabonk | $9.99 | 100,202 94% | 3.0M | $30M (exactly $30,030,539) | vedinad | |
| | The Riftbreaker | older | $29.99 | 22,127 90% | 664k | $20M (exactly $19,907,662) | EXOR Studios |
 | Brotato | older | $4.99 | 111,407 95% | 3.3M | $17M (exactly $16,677,628) | Blobfish |
 | HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition | older | $19.99 | 25,663 90% | 770k | $15M (exactly $15,390,101) | Arrowhead Game Studios |
 | Ni no Kuni™ II: Revenant Kingdom | older | $59.99 | 8,100 82% | 243k | $15M (exactly $14,577,570) | LEVEL5 Inc. |
 | Myth of Empires | older | $29.99 | 15,520 68% | 466k | $14M (exactly $13,963,344) | Angela Game |
 | Craftopia | · EA older | $24.99 | 17,705 76% | 531k | $13M (exactly $13,273,438) | Pocketpair |
 | Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos | $12.99 | 6,281 68% | 188k | $2.4M (exactly $2,447,706) | NANOO | |
 | Renown | · EA | $24.99 | 1,128 53% | 34k | $846k (exactly $845,662) | RDBK Studios |
 | Monsters are Coming! | $8.99 | 2,718 79% | 82k | $733k (exactly $733,045) | Ludogram | |
 | Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny | $29.99 | 663 85% | 20k | $597k (exactly $596,501) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
 | LET IT DIE: INFERNO | $24.99 | 774 52% | 23k | $580k (exactly $580,268) | SUPERTRICK GAMES, Inc. | |
 | Beyond the Map | · EA | $19.99 | 764 77% | 23k | $458k (exactly $458,171) | Glitch Goblins |
 | Priest Simulator: Vampire Show | $19.99 | 735 94% | 22k | $441k (exactly $440,779) | Asmodev | |
 | Human Host | · EA | $16.88 | 866 83% | 26k | $439k (exactly $438,542) | Virtual Matrix Studio |
 | Survival Machine | $19.99 | 692 69% | 21k | $415k (exactly $414,992) | Grape Pickers |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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