Games › Sandbox › Sandbox + Psychological
Should I ship a Psychological Sandbox?
Sandbox + Psychological
Only 17 developers shipped a Psychological Sandbox in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Crawling Angels, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 52 more are announced, ×5.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $60k, ×96 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 52 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $356 (exactly $356) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,000) |
| Top 25% | $5.7k (exactly $5,694) |
| Top 5% | $61k (exactly $60,539) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 42 |
| Announced | 52 |
| 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 down 60% on the market, supply 15% 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.
- Sandbox
- 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
- Sandbox; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action-Adventure, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, Emotional, First-Person
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 716 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 52 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Sandbox with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FightingStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + CatsFair
- + SportsFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Trading Card GameFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
BONELAB 2022 · $22M 
Honey, I Joined a Cult 2022 · $1.1M 
Strain Tactics 2017 · $96k 
Crawling Angels 2026 · $61k 
ANGST: A TALE OF SURVIVAL 2025 · $54k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BONELAB | older | $39.99 | 18,670 82% | 560k | $22M (exactly $22,398,399) | Stress Level Zero |
| | Honey, I Joined a Cult | older | $25.99 | 1,380 73% | 41k | $1.1M (exactly $1,075,986) | Sole Survivor Games |
| | Strain Tactics | older | $14.99 | 214 87% | 6.4k | $96k (exactly $96,236) | Touch Dimensions Interactive |
| | Crawling Angels | $9.99 | 202 96% | 6.1k | $61k (exactly $60,539) | ItsTheTalia, Autumn West | |
| | ANGST: A TALE OF SURVIVAL | $7.99 | 227 86% | 6.8k | $54k (exactly $54,412) | Cherrypick Games | |
 | GAME.exe | older | $3.99 | 415 83% | 12k | $50k (exactly $49,676) | Punx Studios |
 | Siren's Well | $24.99 | 62 66% | 1.9k | $46k (exactly $46,481) | OneManOnly Studios | |
 | Among The Whispers - Provocation | $14.99 | 101 79% | 3.0k | $45k (exactly $45,420) | D&A Studios | |
 | Player Non Player | older | $9.99 | 36 100% | 1.1k | $11k (exactly $10,789) | Jonathan Coryn |
 | Seclusion | · EA | $9.99 | 19 68% | 570 | $5.7k (exactly $5,694) | Forgeworks Studio |
 | My Best Friend Kouta | · EA older | $9.99 | 19 84% | 570 | $5.7k (exactly $5,694) | Graverobber AXDX |
 | World Alone | $2.99 | 51 82% | 1.5k | $4.6k (exactly $4,575) | DCE Projects | |
 | The Suburbs | $3.99 | 36 75% | 1.1k | $4.3k (exactly $4,309) | The Sexy Chinaman | |
 | Housekeeper: Anomaly | $5.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $2.5k (exactly $2,516) | Alex Grim | |
 | TET~CRAFT: The Fourth Temple | $33.33 | 1 100% | 30 | $1.0k (exactly $1,000) | ceneezer | |
 | Taverna | · EA | $9.99 | 3 0% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | Overfort Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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