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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Survival Horror?
Survival Horror + Interactive Fiction
Of 86 developers who shipped an Interactive Fiction Survival Horror 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.. 149 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.1k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $87k, ×140 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 149 games are announced against 48 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $360 (exactly $360) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.1k (exactly $1,080) |
| Top 25% | $5.9k (exactly $5,933) |
| Top 5% | $88k (exactly $87,692) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 86 |
| Released games | 254 |
| Announced | 149 |
| 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 down 20% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Survival Horror
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival Horror, Interactive Fiction; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Visual Novel, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, Dark, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 15,015 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 53 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 149 games are announced against 48 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival Horror with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + DrivingFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + SnowFair
- + SportsFair
- + Outbreak SimFair
- + 3D PlatformerFair
- + Boomer ShooterFair
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Spectacle fighterPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs | older | $19.99 | 7,236 69% | 217k | $4.3M (exactly $4,339,429) | The Chinese Room |
| | Shift At Midnight | $9.99 | 10,147 88% | 304k | $3.0M (exactly $3,041,056) | Bun Muen | |
| | Your Turn To Die -Death Game By Majority- | · EA older | $16.99 | 4,122 97% | 124k | $2.1M (exactly $2,100,983) | Nankidai |
| | Forbidden Solitaire | $15.99 | 2,245 96% | 67k | $1.1M (exactly $1,076,926) | Grey Alien Games, Night Signal Entertai… (Grey Alien Games, Night Signal Entertainment) | |
| | Murder House | older | $11.99 | 2,094 95% | 63k | $753k (exactly $753,212) | Puppet Combo |
| | YKMET: Strade | $14.99 | 1,189 98% | 36k | $535k (exactly $534,693) | Gatobob | |
| | The Price Of Flesh | older | $14.99 | 1,038 96% | 31k | $467k (exactly $466,789) | Gatobob |
| | Death Come True | older | $15.99 | 904 76% | 27k | $434k (exactly $433,649) | IzanagiGames, Too Kyo Games, ESQUADRA,i… (IzanagiGames, Too Kyo Games, ESQUADRA,inc.) |
| | The Test: Final Revelation | older | $1.99 | 5,286 97% | 159k | $316k (exactly $315,574) | Randumb Studios |
| | Bloodwash | older | $7.99 | 1,215 92% | 36k | $291k (exactly $291,236) | Black Eyed Priest, Henry Hoare |
| | DYSTHANASIA | $24.99 | 334 88% | 10k | $250k (exactly $250,400) | Madowaku Kobo | |
| | Project Songbird | $14.99 | 195 85% | 5.9k | $88k (exactly $87,692) | FYRE Games, Conner Rush | |
| | Heart of the Forest | $12.99 | 202 70% | 6.1k | $79k (exactly $78,719) | Trapped Predator | |
| | Back:Fade | $6.99 | 191 76% | 5.7k | $40k (exactly $40,053) | MYSTERY CROWN | |
| | Mycopsychosys: Remastered | $4.99 | 231 97% | 6.9k | $35k (exactly $34,581) | DeltaCat Studio | |
| | 欢迎来到林葬屋 | $6.99 | 148 75% | 4.4k | $31k (exactly $31,036) | MYSTERY CROWN, 火蜥蜴文化 | |
| | 林葬屋前传:冥声 | $6.99 | 133 83% | 4.0k | $28k (exactly $27,890) | MYSTERY CROWN, 火蜥蜴文化 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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