Games › Walking Simulator › Walking Simulator + Mystery
Should I ship a Mystery Walking Simulator?
Walking Simulator + Mystery
Of 750 developers who shipped a Mystery Walking Simulator 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.. 963 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.7k, ×3.6 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $170k, ×368 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 963 games are announced against 455 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $538 (exactly $538) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.7k (exactly $1,704) |
| Top 25% | $9.2k (exactly $9,217) |
| Top 5% | $175k (exactly $174,814) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 750 |
| Released games | 1,771 |
| Announced | 963 |
| 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 up 10% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Walking Simulator
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Mystery
- 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
- Walking Simulator; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 56,545 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 379 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 963 games are announced against 455 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Walking Simulator with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + WarFair
- + RomanceFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + MusicFair
- + SupernaturalFair
- + Psychological HorrorFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + NoirFair
Comparable games
Firewatch 2016 · $56M 
SOMA 2015 · $42M 
What Remains of Edith Finch 2017 · $28M 
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe 2022 · $26M 
The Witness 2016 · $21M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Firewatch | older | $19.99 | 93,690 90% | 2.8M | $56M (exactly $56,185,893) | Campo Santo |
| | SOMA | older | $29.99 | 46,772 95% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,080,768) | Frictional Games |
| | What Remains of Edith Finch | older | $19.99 | 47,036 95% | 1.4M | $28M (exactly $28,207,489) | Giant Sparrow |
| | The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe | older | $24.99 | 34,268 94% | 1.0M | $26M (exactly $25,690,720) | Crows Crows Crows |
| | The Witness | older | $39.99 | 17,197 85% | 516k | $21M (exactly $20,631,241) | Thekla, Inc. |
 | Return of the Obra Dinn | older | $19.99 | 32,309 96% | 969k | $19M (exactly $19,375,707) | Lucas Pope |
 | Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair | older | $19.99 | 30,961 95% | 929k | $19M (exactly $18,567,312) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction G… (Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction Games) |
 | Life is Strange: Before the Storm | older | $16.99 | 33,504 93% | 1.0M | $17M (exactly $17,076,989) | Deck Nine, Feral Interactive (Mac), Fer… (Deck Nine, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
 | Journey | older | $14.99 | 34,805 94% | 1.0M | $16M (exactly $15,651,808) | thatgamecompany |
 | Mouthwashing | $12.99 | 34,353 95% | 1.0M | $13M (exactly $13,387,364) | Wrong Organ | |
 | Echoes of Aincrad | $69.99 | 4,108 47% | 123k | $8.6M (exactly $8,625,568) | Game Studio Inc. | |
 | Eclipsium | $12.99 | 3,306 91% | 99k | $1.3M (exactly $1,288,348) | Housefire | |
 | The Complex: Expedition | $14.99 | 2,620 89% | 79k | $1.2M (exactly $1,178,214) | pgWave | |
 | Hail to the Rainbow | $14.99 | 2,533 90% | 76k | $1.1M (exactly $1,139,090) | Носков Сергей | |
 | DON'T SCREAM | $7.99 | 4,505 65% | 135k | $1.1M (exactly $1,079,848) | Digital Cybercherries | |
 | Dreamcore | $17.99 | 1,879 89% | 56k | $1.0M (exactly $1,014,096) | Montraluz | |
 | OPUS: Prism Peak | $24.99 | 1,071 92% | 32k | $803k (exactly $802,929) | SIGONO INC. | |
 | Dimhaven - The Lost Source | $25.99 | 945 87% | 28k | $737k (exactly $736,816) | Zadbox Entertainment | |
 | Luto | $19.99 | 1,225 85% | 37k | $735k (exactly $734,632) | Broken Bird Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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