Games › Survival › Survival + Lovecraftian
Should I ship a Lovecraftian Survival game?
Survival + Lovecraftian
Of 39 developers who shipped a Lovecraftian 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.. 81 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $8.1k, ×13 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.6k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.6M, ×4226 the market median. Revenue is up 925% on the market; 81 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.5k (exactly $2,514) |
|---|---|
| Median | $8.1k (exactly $8,092) |
| Top 25% | $125k (exactly $124,567) |
| Top 5% | $2.7M (exactly $2,653,642) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 39 |
| Released games | 128 |
| Announced | 81 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 925% on the market, supply 20% 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.
- Survival
- 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
- Survival; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Action, Exploration
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 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 $24.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 14,899 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.6k. 8 in 10 of the 18 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 81 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different setting or mood, 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
Remnant: From the Ashes 2019 · $57M 
WORLD OF HORROR 2023 · $5.4M 
Blood West 2023 · $4.6M 
SUNLESS SEA 2015 · $4.3M 
20 Minutes Till Dawn 2023 · $4.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Remnant: From the Ashes | older | $39.99 | 47,193 84% | 1.4M | $57M (exactly $56,617,442) | Gunfire Games |
| | WORLD OF HORROR | older | $19.99 | 8,991 89% | 270k | $5.4M (exactly $5,391,903) | panstasz |
| | Blood West | older | $24.99 | 6,132 90% | 184k | $4.6M (exactly $4,597,160) | Hyperstrange |
| | SUNLESS SEA | older | $18.99 | 7,625 83% | 229k | $4.3M (exactly $4,343,962) | Failbetter Games |
| | 20 Minutes Till Dawn | older | $4.99 | 27,872 90% | 836k | $4.2M (exactly $4,172,438) | flanne |
 | Silent Hill Homecoming | older | $39.99 | 2,642 47% | 79k | $3.2M (exactly $3,169,607) | Double Helix Games |
 | The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu | $29.99 | 3,107 69% | 93k | $2.8M (exactly $2,795,368) | ACE Team | |
 | Pathologic 3 | $34.99 | 2,528 80% | 76k | $2.7M (exactly $2,653,642) | Ice-Pick Lodge | |
 | Curious Expedition 2 | older | $19.99 | 3,861 88% | 116k | $2.3M (exactly $2,315,442) | Maschinen-Mensch |
 | Devil Daggers | older | $9.99 | 7,442 96% | 223k | $2.2M (exactly $2,230,367) | Sorath |
 | Lucid Blocks | $9.99 | 4,670 93% | 140k | $1.4M (exactly $1,399,599) | Lucy B. Locks | |
 | Welcome to Elderfield | $17.99 | 1,334 87% | 40k | $720k (exactly $719,960) | Chris Cote | |
 | DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain | $17.99 | 1,255 91% | 38k | $677k (exactly $677,323) | Drop Rate Studio | |
 | Stygian: Outer Gods | · EA | $24.99 | 516 80% | 15k | $387k (exactly $386,845) | Misterial Games |
 | The Coma 2B: Catacomb | $14.99 | 584 75% | 18k | $263k (exactly $262,625) | Dvora Studio Co., Ltd. | |
 | RailGods of Hysterra | · EA | $19.99 | 290 51% | 8.7k | $174k (exactly $173,913) | Troglobytes Games |
 | The Coma 3: Bloodlines | $14.99 | 353 86% | 11k | $159k (exactly $158,744) | Dvora Studio Co., Ltd. | |
 | Beneath | $19.99 | 262 69% | 7.9k | $157k (exactly $157,121) | Camel 101 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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