Games › Survival › Survival + Incremental
Should I ship an Incremental Survival game?
Survival + Incremental
Of 101 developers who shipped an Incremental 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.. 130 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $600, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $240. Revenue is up 70% on the market; 130 games are announced against 66 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $599 (exactly $599) |
| Top 25% | $1.9k (exactly $1,946) |
| Top 5% | $65k (exactly $64,728) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 101 |
| Released games | 220 |
| Announced | 130 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 70% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Survival
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Incremental; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Idler, Tower Defense
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 6,816 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 39 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 130 games are announced against 66 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
- + IdlerFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + DogsFair
- + Martial ArtsLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
- + SteampunkPoor odds
Comparable games
How Many Dudes? 2026 · $1.3M 
Forage Wizard 2026 · $325k 
Increlution 2021 · EA · $148k 
Chicken Assassin: Reloaded 2016 · $107k 
Minutescape 2025 · $98k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | How Many Dudes? | $14.99 | 2,948 89% | 88k | $1.3M (exactly $1,325,716) | Butterscotch Shenanigans | |
| | Forage Wizard | $6.99 | 1,549 87% | 46k | $325k (exactly $324,825) | Lost Maxim | |
| | Increlution | · EA older | $3.99 | 1,237 85% | 37k | $148k (exactly $148,069) | Gniller |
| | Chicken Assassin: Reloaded | older | $4.99 | 715 94% | 21k | $107k (exactly $107,036) | OneShark |
| | Minutescape | $5.99 | 546 74% | 16k | $98k (exactly $98,116) | Molter | |
 | Music Band Manager | older | $7.99 | 339 52% | 10k | $81k (exactly $81,258) | Hamsters Gaming |
 | Rock Crusher | $6.99 | 352 84% | 11k | $74k (exactly $73,814) | Mini Fun Games | |
 | KUNKUN Defender | older | $2.99 | 822 97% | 25k | $74k (exactly $73,733) | Seal |
 | Terraformental | · EA | $5.99 | 365 97% | 11k | $66k (exactly $65,590) | Shady Games |
 | Fatal Countdown - immoral List of Desires | older | $10.99 | 197 76% | 5.9k | $65k (exactly $64,951) | Secret Garden |
 | Ancient Cultivatrix | $8.99 | 240 67% | 7.2k | $65k (exactly $64,728) | 五条虾仁(5 shrimps) | |
 | 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 | |
 | Loot Frog | $6.89 | 153 79% | 4.6k | $32k (exactly $31,625) | Clumsy Dog | |
 | 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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