Games › Procedural Generation › Procedural Generation + Horror
Should I ship a Horror Procedural Generation game?
Procedural Generation + Horror
Of 255 developers who shipped a Horror Procedural Generation 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.. 500 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×4.1 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $420; 1 in 20 cleared $1.0M, ×2260 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 500 games are announced against 160 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $418 (exactly $418) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.9k (exactly $1,946) |
| Top 25% | $21k (exactly $20,760) |
| Top 5% | $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 255 |
| Released games | 547 |
| Announced | 500 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 25% on the market, supply 65% 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.
- Procedural Generation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Horror
- 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
- Procedural Generation; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $13.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $13.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 734,729 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 8 in 10 of the 107 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 500 games are announced against 160 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Procedural Generation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SnowFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + DetectiveFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + IdlerFair
- + LogicFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 7 Days to Die | older | $44.99 | 273,589 87% | 8.2M | $369M (exactly $369,263,073) | The Fun Pimps |
| | Deep Rock Galactic | older | $29.99 | 303,142 97% | 9.1M | $273M (exactly $272,736,857) | Ghost Ship Games |
| | The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth | older | $14.99 | 415,060 96% | 12M | $187M (exactly $186,652,482) | Nicalis, Inc., Edmund McMillen |
| | Lethal Company | · EA older | $9.99 | 411,550 97% | 12M | $123M (exactly $123,341,535) | Zeekerss |
| | R.E.P.O. | · EA | $9.99 | 341,004 96% | 10M | $102M (exactly $102,198,899) | semiwork |
| | PEAK | $7.99 | 301,964 94% | 9.1M | $72M (exactly $72,380,771) | Team PEAK | |
| | Remnant: From the Ashes | older | $39.99 | 47,193 84% | 1.4M | $57M (exactly $56,617,442) | Gunfire Games |
| | We Happy Few | older | $59.99 | 11,204 76% | 336k | $20M (exactly $20,163,839) | Compulsion Games |
| | Content Warning | older | $7.99 | 72,444 93% | 2.2M | $17M (exactly $17,364,827) | Zorro, Wilnyl, Philip, thePetHen, Skog |
| | Nightingale | · EA older | $29.99 | 15,338 66% | 460k | $14M (exactly $13,799,599) | Inflexion Games |
| | MISERY | $12.99 | 20,015 85% | 600k | $7.8M (exactly $7,799,846) | Platypus Entertainment | |
| | White Knuckle | · EA | $16.99 | 13,356 98% | 401k | $6.8M (exactly $6,807,553) | Dark Machine Games |
| | Mortal Sin | $24.99 | 5,583 94% | 167k | $4.2M (exactly $4,185,575) | Nikola Todorovic | |
| | Nuclear Nightmare | · EA | $6.99 | 15,403 81% | 462k | $3.2M (exactly $3,230,009) | BG Productions |
| | A Game About Digging A Hole™ | $4.99 | 18,785 89% | 564k | $2.8M (exactly $2,812,114) | DoubleBee | |
| | MIMESIS | · EA | $9.99 | 8,396 84% | 252k | $2.5M (exactly $2,516,281) | ReLU Games, Inc. |
| | YAPYAP | $9.99 | 8,385 83% | 252k | $2.5M (exactly $2,512,984) | Maison Bap | |
| | ZEPHON | $39.99 | 1,838 83% | 55k | $2.2M (exactly $2,205,049) | Proxy Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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