Games › Sandbox › Sandbox + Horror
Should I ship a Horror Sandbox?
Sandbox + Horror
Of 121 developers who shipped a Horror Sandbox 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.. 253 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.5k, ×7.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $2.2M, ×3511 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 253 games are announced against 77 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.5k (exactly $4,549) |
| Top 25% | $63k (exactly $63,294) |
| Top 5% | $2.2M (exactly $2,205,049) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 121 |
| Released games | 385 |
| Announced | 253 |
| 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 down 20% 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.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sandbox; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Survival
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, First-Person, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 198,516 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 6 in 10 of the 56 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 253 games are announced against 77 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Sandbox with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FightingStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + CatsFair
- + SportsFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Trading Card GameFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
DayZ 2018 · $582M 
7 Days to Die 2024 · $369M 
The Forest 2018 · $349M 
Subnautica 2018 · $307M 
Sons Of The Forest 2024 · $256M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | DayZ | older | $49.99 | 387,850 78% | 12M | $582M (exactly $581,658,645) | Bohemia Interactive |
| | 7 Days to Die | older | $44.99 | 273,589 87% | 8.2M | $369M (exactly $369,263,073) | The Fun Pimps |
| | The Forest | older | $19.99 | 581,431 95% | 17M | $349M (exactly $348,684,171) | Endnight Games Ltd |
| | Subnautica | older | $29.99 | 341,390 97% | 10M | $307M (exactly $307,148,583) | Unknown Worlds Entertainment |
| | Sons Of The Forest | older | $29.99 | 284,572 88% | 8.5M | $256M (exactly $256,029,428) | Endnight Games Ltd |
 | Don't Starve Together | older | $14.99 | 376,165 94% | 11M | $169M (exactly $169,161,400) | Klei Entertainment |
 | Subnautica 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 116,852 91% | 3.5M | $105M (exactly $105,131,744) | Unknown Worlds Entertainment |
 | Grounded | older | $39.99 | 75,755 90% | 2.3M | $91M (exactly $90,883,274) | Obsidian Entertainment |
 | Subnautica: Below Zero | older | $29.99 | 99,384 90% | 3.0M | $89M (exactly $89,415,785) | Unknown Worlds Entertainment |
 | People Playground | older | $9.99 | 298,158 98% | 8.9M | $89M (exactly $89,357,953) | mestiez |
 | Grounded 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 21,442 82% | 643k | $19M (exactly $19,291,367) | Obsidian Entertainment, Eidos-Montréal |
 | HumanitZ | $19.99 | 11,155 74% | 335k | $6.7M (exactly $6,689,653) | Yodubzz Studios | |
 | Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster | $49.99 | 2,971 80% | 89k | $4.5M (exactly $4,455,609) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
 | Project Silverfish | · EA | $29.99 | 3,138 93% | 94k | $2.8M (exactly $2,823,259) | Siris Pendrake |
 | A Game About Digging A Hole™ | $4.99 | 18,785 89% | 564k | $2.8M (exactly $2,812,114) | DoubleBee | |
 | ZEPHON | $39.99 | 1,838 83% | 55k | $2.2M (exactly $2,205,049) | Proxy Studios | |
 | Creature Kitchen | $7.99 | 9,046 99% | 271k | $2.2M (exactly $2,168,326) | The Rat Zone | |
 | Berry Bury Berry | $7.99 | 8,619 98% | 259k | $2.1M (exactly $2,065,974) | Get(Color) Games | |
 | Lucid Blocks | $9.99 | 4,670 93% | 140k | $1.4M (exactly $1,399,599) | Lucy B. Locks |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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