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Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Local Multiplayer game?
Local Multiplayer + Psychological Horror
Only 19 developers shipped a Psychological-Horror Local Multiplayer game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Split Fiction, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 20 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.0k, ×8.3 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $110M, ×247460 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 20 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.0k (exactly $3,953) |
| Top 25% | $36k (exactly $35,764) |
| Top 5% | $118M (exactly $117,543,487) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 90 |
| Announced | 20 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 100% on the market, supply 40% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 21%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Local Multiplayer
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Psychological Horror
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Local Multiplayer; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Dark, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 97% positive over 80,095 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 4 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 20 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Local Multiplayer with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + HockeyStrong odds
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Action RPGFair
- + Hex GridFair
- + ModernFair
- + WargameFair
- + TennisFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + SportsFair
- + RunnerFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Split Fiction | $49.99 | 78,378 97% | 2.4M | $118M (exactly $117,543,487) | Hazelight Studios | |
| | The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan | older | $19.99 | 9,244 76% | 277k | $5.5M (exactly $5,543,627) | Supermassive Games |
| | Catherine Classic | older | $19.99 | 8,858 88% | 266k | $5.3M (exactly $5,312,143) | ATLUS |
| | The Past Within | older | $5.99 | 14,673 94% | 440k | $2.6M (exactly $2,636,738) | Rusty Lake |
| | Tick Tock: A Tale for Two | older | $5.99 | 10,006 85% | 300k | $1.8M (exactly $1,798,078) | Other Tales Interactive |
| | BOKURA | older | $5.49 | 10,858 91% | 326k | $1.8M (exactly $1,788,313) | tokoronyori |
| | ibb & obb | older | $11.99 | 4,056 89% | 122k | $1.5M (exactly $1,458,943) | Sparpweed, Codeglue |
| | Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania | older | $29.99 | 1,313 82% | 39k | $1.2M (exactly $1,181,306) | RGG Studio |
| | Spirit Island | older | $24.99 | 1,545 91% | 46k | $1.2M (exactly $1,158,286) | Handelabra Games Inc. |
| | The Jackbox Party Pack 8 | older | $29.99 | 1,134 90% | 34k | $1.0M (exactly $1,020,260) | Jackbox Games, Inc. |
| | Terrordrome - Reign of the Legends | $19.99 | 168 72% | 5.0k | $101k (exactly $100,750) | Huracan Studio | |
| | Lumberjacked | $4.99 | 647 83% | 19k | $97k (exactly $96,856) | Inner Realm Studios, Dumb Duck Games | |
| | Stuck Together | $11.99 | 161 88% | 4.8k | $58k (exactly $57,912) | Hugecalf Studios | |
| | Bonesaw | $6.66 | 179 89% | 5.4k | $36k (exactly $35,764) | Blood Pact Studios | |
| | Sex With Friends | $4.99 | 236 94% | 7.1k | $35k (exactly $35,329) | B-Team | |
| | Exorcist Simulator | $9.99 | 116 66% | 3.5k | $35k (exactly $34,765) | D.M.G.V | |
| | Orange Roulette | $2.99 | 132 96% | 4.0k | $12k (exactly $11,840) | Mikey Houser | |
| | Horror Royale | $5.99 | 56 66% | 1.7k | $10k (exactly $10,063) | Ben Wade | |
| | The Kindling | $5.99 | 22 100% | 660 | $4.0k (exactly $3,953) | 2 Weird |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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