Games › Hunting › Hunting + Survival
Should I ship a Hunting Survival game?
Hunting + Survival
Of 89 developers who shipped a Hunting 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.. 158 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 $2.2k, ×3.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $420; 1 in 20 cleared $740k, ×1192 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 158 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $419 (exactly $419) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,155) |
| Top 25% | $23k (exactly $22,935) |
| Top 5% | $749k (exactly $748,760) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 89 |
| Released games | 273 |
| Announced | 158 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 40% 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.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Hunting, Survival; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Crafting, Simulation, Exploration
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $22.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $22.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 139,304 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 7 in 10 of the 45 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 158 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Hunting with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Post-apocalypticPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + AgriculturePoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + MagicPoor odds
- + SimulationPoor odds
- + BuildingPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + RoguelikePoor odds
Comparable games
Far Cry® 5 2018 · $311M 
SCUM 2025 · $133M 
theHunter: Call of the Wild™ 2017 · $102M 
Far Cry 3 2012 · $74M 
The Isle 2015 · EA · $67M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Far Cry® 5 | older | $59.99 | 172,897 81% | 5.2M | $311M (exactly $311,162,731) | Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Ubisoft Sh… (Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Kiev) |
| | SCUM | $44.99 | 98,554 74% | 3.0M | $133M (exactly $133,018,334) | Gamepires | |
| | theHunter: Call of the Wild™ | older | $19.99 | 170,472 89% | 5.1M | $102M (exactly $102,232,058) | Expansive Worlds |
| | Far Cry 3 | older | $19.99 | 122,691 87% | 3.7M | $74M (exactly $73,577,793) | Ubisoft Montreal, Massive Entertainment… (Ubisoft Montreal, Massive Entertainment, and Ubisoft Shanghai) |
| | The Isle | · EA older | $19.99 | 111,397 80% | 3.3M | $67M (exactly $66,804,781) | Afterthought LLC |
 | Far Cry® 4 | older | $29.99 | 68,485 84% | 2.1M | $62M (exactly $61,615,954) | Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Shanghai,… (Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Shanghai, Toronto, Kiev) |
 | Far Cry® Primal | older | $29.99 | 38,798 86% | 1.2M | $35M (exactly $34,906,561) | Ubisoft |
 | Soulmask | $29.99 | 18,445 76% | 553k | $17M (exactly $16,594,966) | CampFire Studio | |
 | Depth | older | $19.99 | 23,590 89% | 708k | $14M (exactly $14,146,923) | Ammobox Studios |
 | WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition | $29.99 | 11,511 97% | 345k | $10M (exactly $10,356,447) | eduweb | |
 | Survivalist: Invisible Strain | $11.99 | 4,014 87% | 120k | $1.4M (exactly $1,443,836) | Bob | |
 | WolfQuest: Classic | $29.99 | 1,401 90% | 42k | $1.3M (exactly $1,260,480) | eduweb | |
 | Card Survival: Fantasy Forest | · EA | $21.99 | 1,135 76% | 34k | $749k (exactly $748,760) | WinterSpring Games |
 | Folklore Hunter | $17.99 | 1,217 75% | 37k | $657k (exactly $656,815) | Liquid Donkey Games | |
 | Deathground | · EA | $14.99 | 877 61% | 26k | $394k (exactly $394,387) | Jaw Drop Games |
 | Paranoia Place: Escape Together | $7.99 | 1,555 87% | 47k | $373k (exactly $372,734) | Bloody Pixel Games | |
 | Winter Survival | $18.99 | 595 62% | 18k | $339k (exactly $338,972) | DRAGO entertainment |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.