Games › Survival Horror › Survival Horror + Inventory Management
Should I ship an Inventory Management Survival Horror?
Survival Horror + Inventory Management
Of 121 developers who shipped an Inventory Management 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.. 270 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.6k, ×2.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $260k, ×418 the market median. Revenue is up 585% on the market; 270 games are announced against 84 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $479 (exactly $479) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.6k (exactly $1,647) |
| Top 25% | $15k (exactly $15,467) |
| Top 5% | $262k (exactly $262,290) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 121 |
| Released games | 217 |
| Announced | 270 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 585% on the market, supply 120% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, 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
- Inventory Management
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival Horror, Inventory Management; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.99 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 $18.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 114,530 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 9 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 270 games are announced against 84 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Resident Evil Requiem | $69.99 | 106,931 95% | 3.2M | $225M (exactly $224,523,021) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
| | Resident Evil 4 (2005) | older | $19.99 | 78,502 94% | 2.4M | $47M (exactly $47,077,649) | Capcom |
| | DREDGE | older | $24.99 | 47,624 95% | 1.4M | $36M (exactly $35,703,713) | Black Salt Games |
| | Blood West | older | $24.99 | 6,132 90% | 184k | $4.6M (exactly $4,597,160) | Hyperstrange |
| | Daymare: 1998 | older | $29.99 | 3,445 69% | 103k | $3.1M (exactly $3,099,466) | Invader Studios |
| | Tormented Souls 2 | $29.99 | 1,675 88% | 50k | $1.5M (exactly $1,506,998) | Dual Effect | |
| | The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters | older | $14.99 | 2,810 95% | 84k | $1.3M (exactly $1,263,657) | Dvora Studio Co., Ltd. |
| | Haydee 2 | older | $24.99 | 1,649 87% | 49k | $1.2M (exactly $1,236,255) | Haydee Interactive |
| | CONSCRIPT: Director’s Cut | older | $19.99 | 1,998 90% | 60k | $1.2M (exactly $1,198,201) | Jordan Mochi, Catchweight Studio |
| | Echoes of the Living | · EA | $24.99 | 1,005 83% | 30k | $753k (exactly $753,448) | MoonGlint Studio |
| | Clawed | $19.99 | 729 52% | 22k | $437k (exactly $437,181) | Flatrock Games | |
| | UMIGARI | ウミガリ | $12.99 | 1,029 82% | 31k | $401k (exactly $401,001) | Chilla's Art | |
| | Blood Typers | $12.49 | 912 94% | 27k | $342k (exactly $341,726) | Outer Brain Studios | |
| | Iron Blight | $12.49 | 700 93% | 21k | $262k (exactly $262,290) | Ronesans Interactive | |
| | Post Trauma | $14.99 | 574 72% | 17k | $258k (exactly $258,128) | RED SOUL GAMES | |
| | Backrooms Lost Runners | · EA | $13.99 | 592 75% | 18k | $248k (exactly $248,462) | ShimStudioGames |
| | Skinfreak | $12.99 | 383 86% | 11k | $149k (exactly $149,255) | Black Eyed Priest |
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.