Games › Survival › Survival + Investigation
Should I ship an Investigation Survival game?
Survival + Investigation
Of 89 developers who shipped an Investigation 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.. 188 more are announced, ×4.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $140k, ×235 the market median. Revenue is up 130% on the market; 188 games are announced against 46 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
| Top 25% | $7.8k (exactly $7,780) |
| Top 5% | $147k (exactly $147,477) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 89 |
| Released games | 297 |
| Announced | 188 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 130% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Investigation
- 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, Investigation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Survival Horror
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, Story Rich, Dark
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 9,925 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 47 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 188 games are announced against 46 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Social DeductionFair
- + Word GameFair
- + CatsFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + DogsFair
- + Martial ArtsLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
Blair Witch 2019 · $5.8M 
Project Winter 2019 · $4.1M 
BURIED STARS 2021 · $2.5M 
SONG OF HORROR COMPLETE EDITION 2019 · $1.7M 
Obenseuer 2018 · EA · $1.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Blair Witch | older | $29.99 | 6,489 78% | 195k | $5.8M (exactly $5,838,153) | Bloober Team SA |
| | Project Winter | older | $9.99 | 13,662 84% | 410k | $4.1M (exactly $4,094,501) | Other Ocean Interactive |
| | BURIED STARS | older | $39.99 | 2,117 83% | 64k | $2.5M (exactly $2,539,765) | LINE Games Corporation |
| | SONG OF HORROR COMPLETE EDITION | older | $29.99 | 1,932 80% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,738,220) | Protocol Games |
| | Obenseuer | · EA older | $19.99 | 1,684 94% | 51k | $1.0M (exactly $1,009,895) | Loiste Interactive |
 | Feign | $4.99 | 5,270 91% | 158k | $789k (exactly $788,919) | Teneke Kafalar | |
 | Murder House | older | $11.99 | 2,094 95% | 63k | $753k (exactly $753,212) | Puppet Combo |
 | White Noise 2 | older | $9.99 | 2,228 80% | 67k | $668k (exactly $667,732) | Milkstone Studios |
 | Hard Time III | older | $14.99 | 929 85% | 28k | $418k (exactly $417,771) | MDickie |
 | The Alien Cube | older | $19.99 | 554 80% | 17k | $332k (exactly $332,234) | Alessandro Guzzo |
 | Misty Judgment | $8.99 | 1,170 92% | 35k | $316k (exactly $315,549) | 次元边界 | |
 | Titanic Escape Simulator™ | $19.99 | 374 52% | 11k | $224k (exactly $224,288) | magicprostudio, Vintage Digital Revival | |
 | WE ARE SO DEAD | · EA | $7.99 | 672 73% | 20k | $161k (exactly $161,078) | REAL PLAYERS |
 | Sister Ray | $11.99 | 410 95% | 12k | $147k (exactly $147,477) | The Growing Stones | |
 | BACKROOMS: APPREHENSION | $2.99 | 1,371 83% | 41k | $123k (exactly $122,979) | DMNT Interactive | |
 | 1998: The Toll Keeper Story | $11.99 | 292 89% | 8.8k | $105k (exactly $105,032) | GameChanger Studio | |
 | Schizo Dark | $39.99 | 87 95% | 2.6k | $104k (exactly $104,374) | Galactic Geckon | |
 | Anoxia Station | $14.99 | 179 76% | 5.4k | $80k (exactly $80,496) | Bonereaders | |
 | Dustland | · EA | $22.99 | 100 69% | 3.0k | $69k (exactly $68,970) | RedPad Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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