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Should I ship a Walking Simulator Simulation game?
Simulation + Walking Simulator
Of 753 developers who shipped a Walking Simulator Simulation 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.. 837 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, ×2.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $420. Revenue is flat on the market; 837 games are announced against 450 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $418 (exactly $418) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,436) |
| Top 25% | $6.6k (exactly $6,593) |
| Top 5% | $88k (exactly $87,715) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 753 |
| Released games | 1,948 |
| Announced | 837 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 flat on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Walking Simulator
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Walking Simulator; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Immersive Sim
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 55,056 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 8 in 10 of the 450 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 837 games are announced against 450 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
theHunter: Call of the Wild™ 2017 · $102M 
The Isle 2015 · EA · $67M 
The Long Dark 2017 · $66M 
Crime Scene Cleaner 2024 · $29M 
Miscreated 2018 · $21M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | theHunter: Call of the Wild™ | older | $19.99 | 170,472 89% | 5.1M | $102M (exactly $102,232,058) | Expansive Worlds |
| | The Isle | · EA older | $19.99 | 111,397 80% | 3.3M | $67M (exactly $66,804,781) | Afterthought LLC |
| | The Long Dark | older | $19.99 | 110,264 89% | 3.3M | $66M (exactly $66,125,321) | Hinterland Studio Inc. |
| | Crime Scene Cleaner | older | $29.99 | 32,469 98% | 974k | $29M (exactly $29,212,359) | President Studio |
| | Miscreated | older | $29.99 | 23,050 66% | 692k | $21M (exactly $20,738,085) | Entrada Interactive LLC |
 | Cairn | $29.99 | 18,224 94% | 547k | $16M (exactly $16,396,133) | The Game Bakers | |
 | ABZU | older | $19.99 | 21,997 93% | 660k | $13M (exactly $13,191,601) | Giant Squid |
 | LEGO® Worlds | older | $29.99 | 12,487 77% | 375k | $11M (exactly $11,234,554) | TT Games, Traveller's Tales |
 | Visage | older | $34.99 | 8,747 85% | 262k | $9.2M (exactly $9,181,726) | SadSquare Studio |
 | My Winter Car | · EA | $14.99 | 18,614 94% | 558k | $8.4M (exactly $8,370,716) | Amistech Games |
 | Ultimate Fishing® Simulator 2 | $19.99 | 2,077 66% | 62k | $1.2M (exactly $1,245,577) | Silent Bear Studio, SHINING GAMES | |
 | The Complex: Expedition | $14.99 | 2,620 89% | 79k | $1.2M (exactly $1,178,214) | pgWave | |
 | DON'T SCREAM | $7.99 | 4,505 65% | 135k | $1.1M (exactly $1,079,848) | Digital Cybercherries | |
 | Prison Escape Simulator: Dig Out | $7.99 | 3,490 85% | 105k | $837k (exactly $836,553) | Digital Melody | |
 | Lushfoil Photography Sim | $14.99 | 1,718 91% | 52k | $773k (exactly $772,585) | Matt2 | |
 | Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy | $39.99 | 526 90% | 16k | $631k (exactly $631,042) | Microids Studio Paris | |
 | Millennium Dream | $7.99 | 2,598 92% | 78k | $623k (exactly $622,741) | LucidDreamLab | |
 | Quadrober Simulator | $29.99 | 684 79% | 21k | $615k (exactly $615,395) | PropilGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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