Games › Survival › Survival + Perma Death
Should I ship a Perma Death Survival game?
Survival + Perma Death
Of 194 developers who shipped a Perma Death 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.. 311 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, ×0.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $370k, ×594 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 311 games are announced against 118 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $479 (exactly $479) |
| Top 25% | $4.6k (exactly $4,641) |
| Top 5% | $373k (exactly $372,734) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 194 |
| Released games | 551 |
| Announced | 311 |
| 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 65% on the market, supply 55% 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
- Perma Death
- 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
- Survival, Perma Death; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Exploration, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 492,015 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 86 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 311 games are announced against 118 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different second tag, 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
R.E.P.O. 2025 · EA · $102M 
State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition 2020 · $53M 
My Summer Car 2025 · $49M 
Don't Starve 2013 · $29M 
FTL: Faster Than Light 2012 · $19M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | R.E.P.O. | · EA | $9.99 | 341,004 96% | 10M | $102M (exactly $102,198,899) | semiwork |
| | State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition | older | $29.99 | 59,156 83% | 1.8M | $53M (exactly $53,222,653) | Undead Labs |
| | My Summer Car | $14.99 | 108,503 94% | 3.3M | $49M (exactly $48,793,799) | Amistech Games | |
| | Don't Starve | older | $9.99 | 97,007 96% | 2.9M | $29M (exactly $29,072,998) | Klei Entertainment |
| | FTL: Faster Than Light | older | $9.99 | 62,763 94% | 1.9M | $19M (exactly $18,810,071) | Subset Games |
 | My Winter Car | · EA | $14.99 | 18,614 94% | 558k | $8.4M (exactly $8,370,716) | Amistech Games |
 | The Binding of Isaac | older | $4.99 | 49,208 94% | 1.5M | $7.4M (exactly $7,366,438) | Edmund McMillen, Florian Himsl |
 | State of Decay: YOSE | older | $19.99 | 10,526 82% | 316k | $6.3M (exactly $6,312,442) | Undead Labs |
 | Risk of Rain (2013) | older | $9.99 | 20,768 93% | 623k | $6.2M (exactly $6,224,170) | Hopoo Games |
 | Five Nights at Freddy's 2 | older | $7.99 | 23,871 93% | 716k | $5.7M (exactly $5,721,879) | Scott Cawthon |
 | Road to Vostok | · EA | $19.99 | 8,646 84% | 259k | $5.2M (exactly $5,185,006) | Road to Vostok Ltd. |
 | Everything is Crab: The Animal Evolution Roguelite | $9.99 | 6,876 76% | 206k | $2.1M (exactly $2,060,737) | Odd Dreams Digital | |
 | Pathogenic | $9.99 | 4,145 92% | 124k | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) | Aberrant Labs | |
 | Bootstrap Island | $24.99 | 1,362 81% | 41k | $1.0M (exactly $1,021,091) | Maru VR | |
 | Dungeon Settlers | · EA | $24.99 | 1,117 79% | 34k | $837k (exactly $837,415) | CanOpener |
 | Primordialis | · EA | $19.99 | 974 93% | 29k | $584k (exactly $584,108) | Kyler Natividad, Keith Sammut |
 | LET IT DIE: INFERNO | $24.99 | 774 52% | 23k | $580k (exactly $580,268) | SUPERTRICK GAMES, Inc. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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