Games › Survival › Survival + Pirates
Should I ship a Pirate Survival game?
Survival + Pirates
Of 26 developers who shipped a Pirate 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.. 58 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.0k, ×6.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $960; 1 in 20 cleared $9.3M, ×14904 the market median. Revenue is up 2775% on the market; 58 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $959 (exactly $959) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.0k (exactly $3,979) |
| Top 25% | $156k (exactly $156,496) |
| Top 5% | $9.4M (exactly $9,360,004) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 26 |
| Released games | 79 |
| Announced | 58 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 2775% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Exploration, Open World
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 70,331 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $960. 8 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 58 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different setting or mood, 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
Windrose 2026 · EA · $43M 
ATLAS 2018 · EA · $33M 
SAND: Raiders of Sophie 2026 · EA · $9.4M 
Blazing Sails 2023 · $3.8M 
Corsair Cove 2026 · $3.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Windrose | · EA | $29.99 | 47,893 86% | 1.4M | $43M (exactly $43,089,332) | Kraken Express |
| | ATLAS | · EA older | $29.99 | 37,119 46% | 1.1M | $33M (exactly $33,395,964) | Grapeshot Games, Instinct Games |
| | SAND: Raiders of Sophie | · EA | $24.99 | 12,485 49% | 375k | $9.4M (exactly $9,360,004) | Hologryph, TowerHaus |
| | Blazing Sails | older | $14.99 | 8,361 87% | 251k | $3.8M (exactly $3,759,942) | Get Up Games, Iceberg Interactive |
| | Corsair Cove | $39.99 | 3,026 85% | 91k | $3.6M (exactly $3,630,292) | Limbic Entertainment | |
 | The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu | $29.99 | 3,107 69% | 93k | $2.8M (exactly $2,795,368) | ACE Team | |
 | Space Pirates And Zombies 2 | older | $19.99 | 2,734 78% | 82k | $1.6M (exactly $1,639,580) | MinMax Games Ltd. |
 | Salt 2: Shores of Gold | $19.99 | 2,182 85% | 65k | $1.3M (exactly $1,308,545) | Lavaboots Studios | |
 | Out of Reach | older | $14.99 | 2,390 54% | 72k | $1.1M (exactly $1,074,783) | Space Boat Studios |
 | Salt | older | $14.99 | 1,959 75% | 59k | $881k (exactly $880,962) | Lavaboots Studios |
 | Forgotten Seas | $24.99 | 475 75% | 14k | $356k (exactly $356,108) | Pangea Game Studios | |
 | Captain Bones : A Pirate's Journey | $14.99 | 348 79% | 10k | $156k (exactly $156,496) | World of Poly | |
 | Forsaken Isle | $8.99 | 462 70% | 14k | $125k (exactly $124,601) | Smoodlez | |
 | Dig, Dig, Die | $7.99 | 321 64% | 9.6k | $77k (exactly $76,944) | Alice Games | |
 | Deep Space Outpost | $15.99 | 32 71% | 960 | $15k (exactly $15,350) | Niris Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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