Games › Survival Horror › Survival Horror + Lovecraftian
Should I ship a Lovecraftian Survival Horror?
Survival Horror + Lovecraftian
Of 89 developers who shipped a Lovecraftian Survival Horror 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.. 176 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 $4.2k, ×6.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.2k; 1 in 20 cleared $670k, ×1079 the market median. Revenue is up 50% on the market; 176 games are announced against 53 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.2k (exactly $1,166) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.2k (exactly $4,194) |
| Top 25% | $59k (exactly $59,370) |
| Top 5% | $677k (exactly $677,323) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 89 |
| Released games | 251 |
| Announced | 176 |
| 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 50% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Survival Horror
- 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 Horror; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Action
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, Dark, Story Rich
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 27,830 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.2k. 7 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 176 games are announced against 53 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival Horror with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + DrivingFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + SnowFair
- + SportsFair
- + Outbreak SimFair
- + 3D PlatformerFair
- + Boomer ShooterFair
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Spectacle fighterPoor odds
Comparable games
SOMA 2015 · $42M 
DREDGE 2023 · $36M 
Scorn 2022 · $22M 
SIGNALIS 2022 · $18M 
Amnesia: The Dark Descent 2010 · $12M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SOMA | older | $29.99 | 46,772 95% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,080,768) | Frictional Games |
| | DREDGE | older | $24.99 | 47,624 95% | 1.4M | $36M (exactly $35,703,713) | Black Salt Games |
| | Scorn | older | $49.99 | 14,546 77% | 436k | $22M (exactly $21,814,636) | Ebb Software |
| | SIGNALIS | older | $19.99 | 30,601 96% | 918k | $18M (exactly $18,351,420) | rose-engine |
| | Amnesia: The Dark Descent | older | $19.99 | 20,420 95% | 613k | $12M (exactly $12,245,874) | Frictional Games |
 | Demonologist | older | $19.99 | 18,886 85% | 567k | $11M (exactly $11,325,934) | Clock Wizard Games |
 | Layers of Fear (2016) | older | $19.99 | 13,172 89% | 395k | $7.9M (exactly $7,899,248) | Bloober Team SA |
 | 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 |
 | WORLD OF HORROR | older | $19.99 | 8,991 89% | 270k | $5.4M (exactly $5,391,903) | panstasz |
 | Look Outside | $9.99 | 13,586 98% | 408k | $4.1M (exactly $4,071,724) | Francis Coulombe | |
 | 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 | |
 | The Sinking City 2 | $49.99 | 1,410 83% | 42k | $2.1M (exactly $2,114,577) | Frogwares | |
 | DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain | $17.99 | 1,255 91% | 38k | $677k (exactly $677,323) | Drop Rate Studio | |
 | Whisper Mountain Outbreak | · EA | $7.99 | 2,421 84% | 73k | $580k (exactly $580,314) | Toge Productions |
 | Static Dread: The Lighthouse | $10.90 | 1,394 90% | 42k | $456k (exactly $455,838) | solarsuit.games | |
 | UMIGARI | ウミガリ | $12.99 | 1,029 82% | 31k | $401k (exactly $401,001) | Chilla's Art | |
 | 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. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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