Games › Immersive Sim › Immersive Sim + Third-Person Shooter
Should I ship a Third-Person Shooter Immersive Sim?
Immersive Sim + Third-Person Shooter
Of 24 developers who shipped a Third-Person Shooter 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.. 67 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, level with the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $270k, ×185 the market median. Revenue is up 690% on the market; 67 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,445) |
| Top 25% | $10k (exactly $10,195) |
| Top 5% | $277k (exactly $277,389) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 24 |
| Released games | 60 |
| Announced | 67 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 up 690% on the market, supply 115% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, 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
- Third-Person Shooter
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Immersive Sim, Third-Person Shooter; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Simulation, Character Customization
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 12,158 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. All of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 67 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | HITMAN World of Assassination | older | $29.99 | 58,655 87% | 1.8M | $53M (exactly $52,771,904) | IO Interactive A/S |
| | Zero Hour | older | $9.99 | 28,570 78% | 857k | $8.6M (exactly $8,562,429) | AttritoM7 Productions |
| | VEIN | · EA | $19.99 | 11,539 87% | 346k | $6.9M (exactly $6,919,938) | Ramjet Studios |
| | Into The Flames | older | $19.99 | 1,548 80% | 46k | $928k (exactly $928,336) | Fully Involved Game Studios |
| | Emergency Call - The Firefighting Simulation 3 | · EA | $24.99 | 370 71% | 11k | $277k (exactly $277,389) | Crenetic GmbH Studios |
| | Warbox Sandbox | older | $6.99 | 279 78% | 8.4k | $59k (exactly $58,506) | Madar Games |
| | PATLABOR the Case Files | $34.99 | 47 65% | 1.4k | $49k (exactly $49,336) | Chime | |
| | Worlds | older | $9.99 | 71 85% | 2.1k | $21k (exactly $21,279) | Curious Planet |
| | Kid Pilot VR | older | $19.99 | 26 69% | 780 | $16k (exactly $15,592) | Flamingo Simulation Systems |
| | Sex Shop Simulator: Sinful Girls | $7.99 | 57 43% | 1.7k | $14k (exactly $13,663) | Bits, Bytes & Sins | |
| | Casino Boss Simulator | $4.99 | 69 56% | 2.1k | $10k (exactly $10,329) | Nons Games | |
| | The Core | · EA | $19.99 | 17 70% | 510 | $10k (exactly $10,195) | Electric Machine Games |
| | Deliverage | $12.99 | 17 82% | 510 | $6.6k (exactly $6,625) | Majao Games | |
| | Organic Burger Simulator | · EA | $14.99 | 12 58% | 360 | $5.4k (exactly $5,396) | Mehmet Bilici, Hüseyin Doğan |
| | Hovercrafts x Nihilism | $6.00 | 22 86% | 660 | $4.0k (exactly $3,960) | soomr | |
| | LivingForest | $15.99 | 8 62% | 240 | $3.8k (exactly $3,838) | LivingEveryday |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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