Games › Survival › Survival + Life Sim
Should I ship a Life Sim Survival game?
Survival + Life Sim
Of 162 developers who shipped a Life Sim 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.. 284 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×3.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $390; 1 in 20 cleared $1.7M, ×2714 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 284 games are announced against 87 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $390 (exactly $390) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.9k (exactly $1,918) |
| Top 25% | $73k (exactly $73,108) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,704,094) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 162 |
| Released games | 417 |
| Announced | 284 |
| 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 down 60% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Life Sim; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Exploration, Sandbox
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, Realistic, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 67,699 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $390. 7 in 10 of the 88 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 284 games are announced against 87 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 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
My Time at Portia 2019 · $31M 
Bellwright 2024 · EA · $18M 
WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition 2025 · $10M 
My Winter Car 2025 · EA · $8.4M 
The Wandering Village 2025 · $7.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | My Time at Portia | older | $29.99 | 34,844 91% | 1.0M | $31M (exactly $31,349,147) | Pathea Games |
| | Bellwright | · EA older | $29.99 | 20,130 80% | 604k | $18M (exactly $18,110,961) | Donkey Crew |
| | WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition | $29.99 | 11,511 97% | 345k | $10M (exactly $10,356,447) | eduweb | |
| | My Winter Car | · EA | $14.99 | 18,614 94% | 558k | $8.4M (exactly $8,370,716) | Amistech Games |
| | The Wandering Village | $29.99 | 7,734 91% | 232k | $7.0M (exactly $6,958,280) | Stray Fawn Studio | |
 | Chinese Parents | older | $9.99 | 23,168 91% | 695k | $6.9M (exactly $6,943,450) | 墨鱼玩游戏 |
 | The Guild 3 | older | $29.99 | 7,120 60% | 214k | $6.4M (exactly $6,405,864) | Purple Lamp, GolemLabs |
 | Sengoku Dynasty | $29.99 | 6,592 74% | 198k | $5.9M (exactly $5,930,822) | Superkami | |
 | 60 Seconds! Reatomized | older | $9.99 | 18,362 94% | 551k | $5.5M (exactly $5,503,091) | Robot Gentleman |
 | The Coin Game | $19.99 | 5,647 92% | 169k | $3.4M (exactly $3,386,506) | devotid | |
 | I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival | $19.99 | 4,011 83% | 120k | $2.4M (exactly $2,405,397) | Mandragora | |
 | Ostranauts | $19.99 | 3,137 77% | 94k | $1.9M (exactly $1,881,259) | Blue Bottle Games | |
 | The Legend of Khiimori | · EA | $29.99 | 1,929 82% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,735,521) | Aesir Interactive, NightinGames |
 | ANEURISM IV | $9.99 | 5,686 75% | 171k | $1.7M (exactly $1,704,094) | Vellocet | |
 | Winter Burrow | $19.99 | 2,838 89% | 85k | $1.7M (exactly $1,701,949) | Pine Creek Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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