Games › Stealth › Stealth + Lovecraftian
Should I ship a Lovecraftian Stealth game?
Stealth + Lovecraftian
Of 31 developers who shipped a Lovecraftian Stealth 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.. 70 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $220k, ×361 the market median. Revenue is up 85% on the market; 70 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $539 (exactly $539) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,870) |
| Top 25% | $17k (exactly $16,519) |
| Top 5% | $227k (exactly $226,611) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 31 |
| Released games | 78 |
| Announced | 70 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 85% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Stealth
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Lovecraftian
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Stealth; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, First-Person, Dark
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 2,382 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 9 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 70 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Stealth with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + WargamePoor odds
- + DinosaursPoor odds
- + Gun CustomizationPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
CARRION 2020 · $20M 
Amnesia: The Dark Descent 2010 · $12M 
Still Wakes the Deep 2024 · $12M 
Amnesia: Rebirth 2020 · $7.1M 
Call of Cthulhu® 2018 · $6.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | CARRION | older | $19.99 | 33,270 94% | 998k | $20M (exactly $19,952,019) | Phobia Game Studio |
| | Amnesia: The Dark Descent | older | $19.99 | 20,420 95% | 613k | $12M (exactly $12,245,874) | Frictional Games |
| | Still Wakes the Deep | older | $34.99 | 11,213 87% | 336k | $12M (exactly $11,770,286) | The Chinese Room |
| | Amnesia: Rebirth | older | $29.99 | 7,894 77% | 237k | $7.1M (exactly $7,102,232) | Frictional Games |
| | Call of Cthulhu® | older | $19.99 | 10,962 79% | 329k | $6.6M (exactly $6,573,911) | Cyanide Studio |
 | Blood West | older | $24.99 | 6,132 90% | 184k | $4.6M (exactly $4,597,160) | Hyperstrange |
 | Gloomwood | · EA older | $19.99 | 7,495 95% | 225k | $4.5M (exactly $4,494,752) | Dillon Rogers, David Szymanski, Nate Be… (Dillon Rogers, David Szymanski, Nate Berens, Thomas Porta) |
 | Lust from Beyond | older | $19.99 | 4,057 81% | 122k | $2.4M (exactly $2,432,983) | Movie Games Lunarium |
 | Penumbra Overture | older | $9.99 | 3,794 89% | 114k | $1.1M (exactly $1,137,062) | Frictional Games |
 | Endoparasitic | older | $9.99 | 2,928 93% | 88k | $878k (exactly $877,522) | Miziziziz |
 | Stygian: Outer Gods | · EA | $24.99 | 516 80% | 15k | $387k (exactly $386,845) | Misterial Games |
 | Endoparasitic 2 | $11.99 | 630 86% | 19k | $227k (exactly $226,611) | Miziziziz | |
 | Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol | $11.99 | 629 78% | 19k | $226k (exactly $226,251) | SOFTSTAR ENTERTAINMENT | |
 | Pneumata | $19.99 | 99 48% | 3.0k | $59k (exactly $59,370) | Deadbolt Interactive | |
 | THE WELL IS NOT EMPTY | $9.99 | 140 92% | 4.2k | $42k (exactly $41,958) | tweakEra | |
 | NEDRA | $14.99 | 76 76% | 2.3k | $34k (exactly $34,177) | Davit Andreasyan | |
 | SAVE | · EA | $11.99 | 91 48% | 2.7k | $33k (exactly $32,733) | Influsion Inc. |
 | SECTOR ZERO | $3.99 | 138 93% | 4.1k | $17k (exactly $16,519) | Ondrej Angelovic | |
 | The 9th Charnel | $19.99 | 20 30% | 600 | $12k (exactly $11,994) | Saikat Deb | |
 | Paws Coven | $6.99 | 43 67% | 1.3k | $9.0k (exactly $9,017) | Wintercrow Games |
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.