Games › Procedural Generation › Procedural Generation + Psychological Horror
Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Procedural Generation game?
Procedural Generation + Psychological Horror
Of 136 developers who shipped a Psychological-Horror Procedural Generation 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.. 241 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×3.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $790k, ×1682 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 241 games are announced against 79 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
| Top 25% | $8.4k (exactly $8,388) |
| Top 5% | $799k (exactly $799,117) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 136 |
| Released games | 275 |
| Announced | 241 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 flat 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.
- Procedural Generation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Psychological Horror
- 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
- Procedural Generation; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Exploration, Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.49 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.49 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 43,749 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 63 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 241 games are announced against 79 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Procedural Generation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SnowFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + DetectiveFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + IdlerFair
- + LogicFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
Comparable games
Lethal Company 2023 · EA · $123M 
We Happy Few 2018 · $20M 
Content Warning 2024 · $17M 
Backrooms: Escape Together 2022 · EA · $13M 
Pacify 2019 · $4.9M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Lethal Company | · EA older | $9.99 | 411,550 97% | 12M | $123M (exactly $123,341,535) | Zeekerss |
| | We Happy Few | older | $59.99 | 11,204 76% | 336k | $20M (exactly $20,163,839) | Compulsion Games |
| | Content Warning | older | $7.99 | 72,444 93% | 2.2M | $17M (exactly $17,364,827) | Zorro, Wilnyl, Philip, thePetHen, Skog |
| | Backrooms: Escape Together | · EA older | $9.99 | 42,276 88% | 1.3M | $13M (exactly $12,670,117) | Triiodide Studios |
| | Pacify | older | $4.99 | 32,921 86% | 988k | $4.9M (exactly $4,928,274) | Shawn Hitchcock |
 | Labyrinthine | older | $9.99 | 13,779 84% | 413k | $4.1M (exactly $4,129,566) | Valko Game Studios |
 | Nuclear Nightmare | · EA | $6.99 | 15,403 81% | 462k | $3.2M (exactly $3,230,009) | BG Productions |
 | MIMESIS | · EA | $9.99 | 8,396 84% | 252k | $2.5M (exactly $2,516,281) | ReLU Games, Inc. |
 | The Blackout Club | older | $29.99 | 2,187 78% | 66k | $2.0M (exactly $1,967,644) | Question |
 | Monstrum | older | $17.99 | 3,155 91% | 95k | $1.7M (exactly $1,702,753) | Team Junkfish |
 | Lucid Blocks | $9.99 | 4,670 93% | 140k | $1.4M (exactly $1,399,599) | Lucy B. Locks | |
 | Funnel Runners | · EA | $14.99 | 2,941 83% | 88k | $1.3M (exactly $1,322,568) | Supernova Studios LLC |
 | Murky Divers | $8.99 | 3,981 87% | 119k | $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) | Embers | |
 | Dark Hours | $9.99 | 3,481 81% | 104k | $1.0M (exactly $1,043,256) | Piece of Cake studios | |
 | DEAD LETTER DEPT. | $14.99 | 1,777 95% | 53k | $799k (exactly $799,117) | Mike Monroe, Belief Engine | |
 | Blood Typers | $12.49 | 912 94% | 27k | $342k (exactly $341,726) | Outer Brain Studios | |
 | Paranormal Cleanup | $9.99 | 961 88% | 29k | $288k (exactly $288,012) | Manic Mice | |
 | NO-SKIN | $6.99 | 1,227 95% | 37k | $257k (exactly $257,302) | NoEye-Soft |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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