Games › Open World Survival Craft › Open World Survival Craft + Sci-fi
Should I ship a Sci-fi Open World Survival Craft?
Open World Survival Craft + Sci-fi
Of 32 developers who shipped a Sci-fi Open World Survival Craft 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.. 76 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 9 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $120k, ×92 the market's $1.3k for a 9 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $16k; 1 in 20 cleared $44M, ×32789 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 76 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $15k (exactly $15,285) |
|---|---|
| Median | $124k (exactly $124,159) |
| Top 25% | $1.5M (exactly $1,503,448) |
| Top 5% | $44M (exactly $44,166,128) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 32 |
| Released games | 107 |
| Announced | 76 |
| Effort | 9 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $17.99 |
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 45% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Open World Survival Craft
- effort 9 / 10 · low · dedicated multiplayer servers over a huge content build
- Sci-fi
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 9 / 10 · studio only
- Systems
- Open World Survival Craft; all of the top 25% also carry Base Building, Crafting, Exploration
- Price point
- $17.99 typical · top 25% priced $34.99 or above
- Art
- 9 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $34.99 or above; the middle game at $17.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 142,970 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $16k. 4 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 76 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Open World Survival Craft with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + AutomationFair
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Immersive SimPoor odds
- + PhysicsPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + MedievalPoor odds
- + ShooterPoor odds
- + PvPPoor odds
- + Character CustomizationPoor odds
- + RPGPoor odds
- + Post-apocalypticPoor odds
Comparable games
No Man's Sky 2016 · $567M 
Subnautica 2018 · $307M 
Satisfactory 2024 · $282M 
ARK: Survival Evolved 2017 · $264M 
ASTRONEER 2019 · $107M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | No Man's Sky | older | $59.99 | 315,054 83% | 9.5M | $567M (exactly $567,002,684) | Hello Games |
| | Subnautica | older | $29.99 | 341,390 97% | 10M | $307M (exactly $307,148,583) | Unknown Worlds Entertainment |
| | Satisfactory | older | $39.99 | 234,993 97% | 7.0M | $282M (exactly $281,921,102) | Coffee Stain Studios |
| | ARK: Survival Evolved | older | $14.99 | 586,768 83% | 18M | $264M (exactly $263,869,570) | Studio Wildcard, Instinct Games, Efecto… (Studio Wildcard, Instinct Games, Efecto Studios, Virtual Basement LLC) |
| | ASTRONEER | older | $29.99 | 118,844 91% | 3.6M | $107M (exactly $106,923,947) | System Era Softworks |
 | Dune: Awakening | $49.99 | 66,844 71% | 2.0M | $100M (exactly $100,245,947) | Funcom | |
 | Subnautica: Below Zero | older | $29.99 | 99,384 90% | 3.0M | $89M (exactly $89,415,785) | Unknown Worlds Entertainment |
 | The Planet Crafter | older | $23.99 | 68,855 96% | 2.1M | $50M (exactly $49,554,944) | Miju Games |
 | Abiotic Factor | $34.99 | 42,075 95% | 1.3M | $44M (exactly $44,166,128) | Deep Field Games | |
 | Starbound | older | $14.99 | 87,418 90% | 2.6M | $39M (exactly $39,311,875) | Chucklefish |
 | StarRupture | · EA | $19.99 | 12,333 80% | 370k | $7.4M (exactly $7,396,100) | Creepy Jar |
 | Forever Skies | $29.99 | 8,138 78% | 244k | $7.3M (exactly $7,321,759) | Far From Home | |
 | Occupy Mars: The Game | $29.99 | 2,714 68% | 81k | $2.4M (exactly $2,441,786) | ▲ Pyramid Games | |
 | Cubic Odyssey | $24.99 | 2,406 74% | 72k | $1.8M (exactly $1,803,778) | Atypical Games | |
 | Astrometica | · EA | $19.99 | 2,912 82% | 87k | $1.7M (exactly $1,746,326) | BeryMery |
 | Eden Crafters | $19.99 | 2,507 85% | 75k | $1.5M (exactly $1,503,448) | Osaris Games | |
 | AETHUS | $19.99 | 2,030 94% | 61k | $1.2M (exactly $1,217,391) | Pawsmonaut Games | |
 | Blossom: The Seed of Life | $16.99 | 1,011 88% | 30k | $515k (exactly $515,307) | Pebbledust Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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