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Should I ship a Hunting Immersive Sim?
Immersive Sim + Hunting
Of 30 developers who shipped a Hunting Immersive Sim 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.. 49 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.0k, ×2.7 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×1075 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 49 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $719 (exactly $719) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.0k (exactly $4,047) |
| Top 25% | $23k (exactly $22,935) |
| Top 5% | $1.6M (exactly $1,610,240) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 30 |
| Released games | 69 |
| Announced | 49 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 65% on the market, supply 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Immersive Sim
- effort 8 / 10 · low · effort 8 sits in the low band
- Hunting
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Immersive Sim, Hunting; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Exploration, Life Sim
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Realistic, 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 16,779 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 7 in 10 of the 18 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 49 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Immersive Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Trading Card GameStrong odds
- + MinigamesStrong odds
- + WesternStrong odds
- + BoxingStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + RomanceFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Split ScreenFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | theHunter: Call of the Wild™ | older | $19.99 | 170,472 89% | 5.1M | $102M (exactly $102,232,058) | Expansive Worlds |
| | Ranch Simulator: Build, Hunt, Farm | older | $24.99 | 40,862 79% | 1.2M | $31M (exactly $30,634,241) | Toxic Dog |
| | WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition | $29.99 | 11,511 97% | 345k | $10M (exactly $10,356,447) | eduweb | |
| | Call of the Wild: The Angler™ | older | $29.99 | 6,122 63% | 184k | $5.5M (exactly $5,507,963) | Expansive Worlds |
| | Way of the Hunter 2 | · EA | $34.99 | 1,534 73% | 46k | $1.6M (exactly $1,610,240) | Nine Rocks Games |
| | WolfQuest: Classic | $29.99 | 1,401 90% | 42k | $1.3M (exactly $1,260,480) | eduweb | |
| | Green Hell VR | older | $19.99 | 1,143 57% | 34k | $685k (exactly $685,457) | Incuvo |
| | UMIGARI | ウミガリ | $12.99 | 1,029 82% | 31k | $401k (exactly $401,001) | Chilla's Art | |
| | Prehistoric Hunt | · EA older | $17.99 | 678 84% | 20k | $366k (exactly $365,917) | Antiproto Studios |
| | Arctic Motel Simulator | $17.99 | 465 88% | 14k | $251k (exactly $250,960) | One Slice of Pizza Games | |
| | The Axis Unseen | $24.99 | 309 75% | 9.3k | $232k (exactly $231,657) | Just Purkey Games | |
| | Virtual Hunter | $24.99 | 173 71% | 5.2k | $130k (exactly $129,698) | Korpi Games Oy | |
| | Nature & Life - Drunk On Nectar | $14.99 | 263 87% | 7.9k | $118k (exactly $118,271) | Venugopalan Sreedharan | |
| | Ember's Verge | $14.99 | 51 88% | 1.5k | $23k (exactly $22,935) | Feralless Games | |
| | Twilight Tails | $16.99 | 43 51% | 1.3k | $22k (exactly $21,917) | Prokopchuk Pavlo |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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