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Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Parkour game?
Parkour + Psychological Horror
Of 72 developers who shipped a Psychological-Horror Parkour 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.. 62 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $75k, ×121 the market median. Revenue is down 40% on the market; 62 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $240 (exactly $240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
| Top 25% | $5.7k (exactly $5,694) |
| Top 5% | $76k (exactly $75,992) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 72 |
| Released games | 165 |
| Announced | 62 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 40% on the market, supply 30% fewer 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.
- Parkour
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Psychological Horror
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Parkour; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, 3D Platformer, Action
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $10.49 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Difficult
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $10.49 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 6,332 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 46 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 62 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Parkour with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + MetroidvaniaPoor odds
- + SkateboardingPoor odds
- + SwordplayPoor odds
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + Dark FantasyPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + CatsPoor odds
- + DestructionPoor odds
- + StealthPoor odds
Comparable games
Outlast 2013 · $47M 
Outlast 2 2017 · $33M 
Gorilla Tag 2023 · $32M 
Forspoken 2023 · $11M 
Hello Neighbor 2 2022 · $5.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Outlast | older | $14.99 | 104,353 96% | 3.1M | $47M (exactly $46,927,544) | Red Barrels |
| | Outlast 2 | older | $19.99 | 54,239 90% | 1.6M | $33M (exactly $32,527,128) | Red Barrels |
| | Gorilla Tag | older | $19.99 | 52,637 93% | 1.6M | $32M (exactly $31,566,409) | Another Axiom Inc. |
| | Forspoken | older | $69.99 | 5,384 64% | 162k | $11M (exactly $11,304,785) | Square Enix |
| | Hello Neighbor 2 | older | $39.99 | 4,361 81% | 131k | $5.2M (exactly $5,231,892) | Eerie Guest, tinyBuild |
 | Peaks of Yore | older | $18.99 | 3,587 97% | 108k | $2.0M (exactly $2,043,514) | Anders Grube Jensen |
 | Mr.President! | older | $9.99 | 4,958 83% | 149k | $1.5M (exactly $1,485,913) | Game Developer X |
 | Ben and Ed | older | $9.99 | 4,592 82% | 138k | $1.4M (exactly $1,376,222) | Sluggerfly |
 | Finding Frankie | $14.99 | 1,886 90% | 57k | $848k (exactly $848,134) | SUPERLOU | |
 | VHOLUME | $8.00 | 2,992 97% | 90k | $718k (exactly $718,080) | Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels… (Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels Tiercelin) | |
 | Relooted | $14.99 | 257 87% | 7.7k | $116k (exactly $115,573) | Nyamakop | |
 | Ikarus Parkour | $12.99 | 195 81% | 5.9k | $76k (exactly $75,992) | Vanja Aleksić | |
 | Curiosity: A Cat Climbing Game | $9.99 | 220 96% | 6.6k | $66k (exactly $65,934) | DarkBear Studios, iNightGaming LLC | |
 | CashGrab: Refunded | · EA | $6.99 | 206 87% | 6.2k | $43k (exactly $43,198) | Grabba Guild Games LLC |
 | Driving Is Hard | $6.99 | 200 79% | 6.0k | $42k (exactly $41,940) | Elegant Horse Studios | |
 | Dark Succubus | $6.99 | 171 77% | 5.1k | $36k (exactly $35,859) | ZC Game | |
 | Unnamed Pogo Game | $6.99 | 127 85% | 3.8k | $27k (exactly $26,632) | Unnamed Games | |
 | Turnip Mountain | $10.49 | 78 97% | 2.3k | $25k (exactly $24,547) | Luke Sanderson |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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