Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Psychological Horror
Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Time Manipulation game?
Time Manipulation + Psychological Horror
Only 19 developers shipped a Psychological-Horror Time Manipulation game 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, Super Drift Blade, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 40 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $630, ×1.3 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $73k, ×155 the market median. Revenue is up 60% on the market; 40 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $298 (exactly $298) |
|---|---|
| Median | $628 (exactly $628) |
| Top 25% | $8.1k (exactly $8,092) |
| Top 5% | $74k (exactly $73,605) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 76 |
| Announced | 40 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $2.99 |
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 60% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Time Manipulation
- 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
- Time Manipulation; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Puzzle, Exploration
- Price point
- $2.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $2.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 2,333 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 40 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Time Manipulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DemonsFair
- + CapitalismFair
- + ModernFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + RacingFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Choose Your Own AdventurePoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + Post-apocalypticPoor odds
- + DetectivePoor odds
- + NoirPoor odds
Comparable games
The Silent Age 2015 · $1.8M 
NUTS 2021 · $663k 
Homebody 2023 · $379k 
Tree Simulator 2022 2021 · $184k 
ChronoClock 2017 · $136k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Silent Age | older | $9.99 | 5,966 93% | 179k | $1.8M (exactly $1,788,010) | House On Fire |
| | NUTS | older | $24.99 | 884 88% | 27k | $663k (exactly $662,735) | Joon, Pol, Muutsch, Char & Torfi |
| | Homebody | older | $19.99 | 632 93% | 19k | $379k (exactly $379,010) | Game Grumps |
| | Tree Simulator 2022 | older | $5.99 | 1,022 97% | 31k | $184k (exactly $183,653) | Revmatek |
| | ChronoClock | older | $29.99 | 151 91% | 4.5k | $136k (exactly $135,855) | Purple Software |
 | The Gap | older | $19.99 | 155 94% | 4.7k | $93k (exactly $92,954) | Label This |
 | Super Drift Blade | $6.99 | 351 94% | 11k | $74k (exactly $73,605) | Liujiajun | |
 | Re:Turn - One Way Trip | older | $11.99 | 132 79% | 4.0k | $47k (exactly $47,480) | Red Ego Games |
 | HORROR TALES: The Beggar | older | $11.99 | 127 84% | 3.8k | $46k (exactly $45,682) | CarlosGameDev |
 | Paragnosia | $3.99 | 228 92% | 6.8k | $27k (exactly $27,292) | Sine Coda | |
 | Paragnosia: Museum | $5.99 | 139 87% | 4.2k | $25k (exactly $24,978) | Sine Coda | |
 | Coconut Simulator | $0.99 | 735 96% | 22k | $22k (exactly $21,830) | Dynamic Games | |
 | Coconut Simulator 2 | $0.99 | 621 96% | 19k | $18k (exactly $18,444) | Dynamic Games | |
 | Hank: Drowning On Dry Land | $2.99 | 140 95% | 4.2k | $13k (exactly $12,558) | My Next Games | |
 | The Time Machine | $9.99 | 35 97% | 1.1k | $10k (exactly $10,490) | Lionel Marsden | |
 | A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad | $9.99 | 27 81% | 810 | $8.1k (exactly $8,092) | Azimuth Studios | |
 | The Office Void | $1.49 | 53 86% | 1.6k | $2.4k (exactly $2,369) | Coldheart Entertainment | |
 | Mental Hellacious | $13.99 | 4 50% | 120 | $1.7k (exactly $1,679) | MoreNEWttoStudio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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