Do I ship it?

Games › Survival › Survival + Score Attack

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Score Attack Survival game?

Survival + Score Attack

Of 199 developers who shipped a Score Attack 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.. 178 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $370 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 127 developers shipped in the last year and 178 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 30% on the market, 178 announced, ×1.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Survival + Score Attack
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 199
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.2k → $449 → $299 → $897 → $599 → $539 → $299 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Survival + Score Attack: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 199
Bottom 30% $119 (exactly $119)
Median $299 (exactly $299)
Top 25% $2.4k (exactly $2,394)
Top 5% $141k (exactly $140,704)
Developers, 2 yr 199
Released games 488
Announced 178
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 30% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Survival
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Score Attack
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Survival, Score Attack; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Bullet Hell
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 125,110 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $120, median $300, 1 in 4 over $2.3k, 1 in 20 over $140k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 76 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 178 games are announced against 127 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Survival with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVStrong odds14 devs · median $74k · 10 announced
  2. + Social DeductionFair31 devs · median $6.2k · 35 announced
  3. + Word GameFair22 devs · median $2.1k · 29 announced
  4. + CatsFair33 devs · median $1.2k · 34 announced
  5. + CollectathonFair77 devs · median $1.0k · 84 announced
  6. + IdlerFair96 devs · median $836 · 99 announced
  7. + Auto BattlerFair79 devs · median $807 · 90 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair101 devs · median $599 · 130 announced
  9. + DogsFair20 devs · median $535 · 19 announced
  10. + Martial ArtsLong shot19 devs · median $419 · 17 announced
  11. + Boomer ShooterLong shot39 devs · median $359 · 32 announced
  12. + DiplomacyPoor odds16 devs · median $100k · 28 announced

All 234 pairs on the Survival page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Counter-Strike 2000 · $51M Megabonk 2025 · $30M Yet Another Zombie Survivors 2026 · $6.4M 20 Minutes Till Dawn 2023 · $4.2M Vampire Hunters 2024 · $873k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Counter-Strike older $9.99 169,780 96% 5.1M $51M (exactly $50,883,066) Valve
Megabonk $9.99 100,202 94% 3.0M $30M (exactly $30,030,539) vedinad
Yet Another Zombie Survivors $14.99 14,123 91% 424k $6.4M (exactly $6,351,113) Awesome Games Studio
20 Minutes Till Dawn older $4.99 27,872 90% 836k $4.2M (exactly $4,172,438) flanne
Vampire Hunters $14.99 1,941 89% 58k $873k (exactly $872,868) Gamecraft Studios
Death in the Water 2 older $14.99 1,734 83% 52k $780k (exactly $779,780) Lighthouse Games Studio
Monsters are Coming! $8.99 2,718 79% 82k $733k (exactly $733,045) Ludogram
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny $29.99 663 85% 20k $597k (exactly $596,501) CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
FatalZone $6.99 2,125 66% 64k $446k (exactly $445,612) Midhard Games
Geometry Arena older $5.99 2,114 95% 63k $380k (exactly $379,886) 011 Games
Sineus Arena Survivors $10.99 1,150 77% 35k $379k (exactly $379,155) Sineus Games
Funguys Swarm $9.99 1,114 89% 33k $334k (exactly $333,866) Stairway Games
Entropy Survivors $9.99 487 80% 15k $146k (exactly $145,954) Moving Pieces Interactive
Poly TD $7.99 587 82% 18k $141k (exactly $140,704) Naroot

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.