Games › Survival › Survival + Idler
Should I ship an Idler Survival game?
Survival + Idler
Of 96 developers who shipped an Idler 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.. 99 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $840, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $270. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 99 games are announced against 59 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $269 (exactly $269) |
|---|---|
| Median | $836 (exactly $836) |
| Top 25% | $2.2k (exactly $2,159) |
| Top 5% | $98k (exactly $98,116) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 96 |
| Released games | 193 |
| Announced | 99 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, 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
- Survival, Idler; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Incremental, RPG
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 6,139 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $270. 9 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 99 games are announced against 59 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Social DeductionFair
- + Word GameFair
- + CatsFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + DogsFair
- + Martial ArtsLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
- + SteampunkPoor odds
Comparable games
Forage Wizard 2026 · $325k 
Another Try 2 2025 · EA · $210k 
Stone Simulator – Just Be a Rock 2025 · $183k 
XiuzhenWorld 2024 · $170k 
Legendary Hoplite 2024 · $151k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Forage Wizard | $6.99 | 1,549 87% | 46k | $325k (exactly $324,825) | Lost Maxim | |
| | Another Try 2 | · EA | $6.99 | 1,000 53% | 30k | $210k (exactly $209,700) | Hoki Wolf Studio |
| | Stone Simulator – Just Be a Rock | $3.99 | 1,532 94% | 46k | $183k (exactly $183,380) | STFGames | |
| | XiuzhenWorld | older | $12.99 | 436 75% | 13k | $170k (exactly $169,909) | Noforgetit |
| | Legendary Hoplite | older | $14.99 | 335 63% | 10k | $151k (exactly $150,650) | TripleBricksGames |
 | Increlution | · EA older | $3.99 | 1,237 85% | 37k | $148k (exactly $148,069) | Gniller |
 | Dead District: Survival | older | $9.99 | 415 48% | 12k | $124k (exactly $124,376) | BadBit Games |
 | Cultivation Magic World | · EA | $12.99 | 276 78% | 8.3k | $108k (exactly $107,557) | DMG Studio |
 | Chicken Assassin: Reloaded | older | $4.99 | 715 94% | 21k | $107k (exactly $107,036) | OneShark |
 | Joyville | older | $9.99 | 331 69% | 9.9k | $99k (exactly $99,201) | KudPlay Games |
 | Minutescape | $5.99 | 546 74% | 16k | $98k (exactly $98,116) | Molter | |
 | Rock Crusher | $6.99 | 352 84% | 11k | $74k (exactly $73,814) | Mini Fun Games | |
 | All Aboard! The Train Defense Express | $4.99 | 379 84% | 11k | $57k (exactly $56,736) | Likadev | |
 | Incrempire | $6.99 | 167 68% | 5.0k | $35k (exactly $35,020) | FMGames, Regnum Noctis | |
 | Thunder Tank: Iron Shield | $3.99 | 221 82% | 6.6k | $26k (exactly $26,454) | Crazy Studio | |
 | Ash Warden | $6.99 | 117 70% | 3.5k | $25k (exactly $24,535) | Mgfa Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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