Games › RPG › RPG + Psychological
Should I ship a Psychological RPG?
RPG + Psychological
Of 191 developers who shipped a Psychological RPG 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.. 392 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $980, ×1.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $250k, ×406 the market median. Revenue is up 25% on the market; 392 games are announced against 119 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $980 (exactly $980) |
| Top 25% | $6.9k (exactly $6,924) |
| Top 5% | $255k (exactly $254,721) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 191 |
| Released games | 446 |
| Announced | 392 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 25% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- RPG
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Psychological
- 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
- RPG; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Multiple Endings, Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Emotional, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 82,277 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 98 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 392 games are announced against 119 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
RPG with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + IdlerFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + SportsFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + SamuraiPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
- + MinigamesPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | DREDGE | older | $24.99 | 47,624 95% | 1.4M | $36M (exactly $35,703,713) | Black Salt Games |
| | To the Moon | older | $9.99 | 69,549 95% | 2.1M | $21M (exactly $20,843,835) | Freebird Games |
| | Revenge on gold diggers | $6.99 | 46,610 80% | 1.4M | $9.8M (exactly $9,774,117) | 前方工作室 | |
| | Digimon Survive | older | $59.99 | 3,124 78% | 94k | $5.6M (exactly $5,622,263) | HYDE, Inc. |
| | Finding Paradise | older | $9.99 | 18,126 97% | 544k | $5.4M (exactly $5,432,362) | Freebird Games |
| | GNOSIA | older | $24.99 | 4,855 93% | 146k | $3.6M (exactly $3,639,794) | Petit Depotto |
| | Minds Beneath Us | older | $19.99 | 5,749 96% | 172k | $3.4M (exactly $3,447,675) | BearBoneStudio |
| | Pathologic 3 | $34.99 | 2,528 80% | 76k | $2.7M (exactly $2,653,642) | Ice-Pick Lodge | |
| | Class of '09: The Re-Up | older | $14.99 | 4,496 97% | 135k | $2.0M (exactly $2,021,851) | SBN3 |
| | The NOexistenceN of you AND me | $1.99 | 20,139 93% | 604k | $1.2M (exactly $1,202,298) | 0x0Real Studio | |
| | The Lantern of the Laughless Saint | · EA | $19.99 | 1,460 89% | 44k | $876k (exactly $875,562) | NerveLabs |
| | Feign | $4.99 | 5,270 91% | 158k | $789k (exactly $788,919) | Teneke Kafalar | |
| | 极速营救 | $9.99 | 1,860 86% | 56k | $557k (exactly $557,442) | 优映文化, 想象颗粒 | |
| | 我打不过漂亮的她们 | $10.99 | 1,111 95% | 33k | $366k (exactly $366,297) | 想象颗粒 | |
| | Deep Sleep: Labyrinth of the Forsaken | $19.99 | 595 94% | 18k | $357k (exactly $356,822) | scriptwelder | |
| | The NOexistenceN of Morphean Paradox : The Forest of Silver Shallots | · EA | $6.99 | 1,697 72% | 51k | $356k (exactly $355,861) | 0x0Real Studio |
| | Soul Touch | $9.99 | 1,007 97% | 30k | $302k (exactly $301,798) | URAYAHA.TECH |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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