Games › Survival › Survival + Time Manipulation
Should I ship a Time Manipulation Survival game?
Survival + Time Manipulation
Only 17 developers shipped a Time Manipulation Survival 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, Time Flies, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $750, ×1.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $160k, ×265 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 24 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $748 (exactly $748) |
| Top 25% | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) |
| Top 5% | $166k (exactly $166,389) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 59 |
| Announced | 24 |
| 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 35% on the market, supply 10% fewer 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.
- Survival
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Time Manipulation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Time Manipulation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Physics, Action
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $5.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Atmospheric, Philosophical
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $5.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 492 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Social DeductionFair
- + Word GameFair
- + CatsFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + DogsFair
- + Martial ArtsLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | No Time | · EA older | $12.99 | 2,117 97% | 64k | $825k (exactly $824,995) | Lost in Days Studio |
| | Metel - Horror Escape | · EA older | $2.99 | 2,304 93% | 69k | $207k (exactly $206,669) | Linked Squad |
| | Time Flies | $14.99 | 370 96% | 11k | $166k (exactly $166,389) | Playables | |
| | PERIMETER: Legate Edition | older | $9.99 | 143 92% | 4.3k | $43k (exactly $42,857) | K-D Lab |
| | Cube Land Arena | older | $4.99 | 279 66% | 8.4k | $42k (exactly $41,766) | Jaison Robson Gusava, SC Jogos |
| | Winds & Leaves | older | $29.99 | 28 64% | 840 | $25k (exactly $25,192) | TREBUCHET |
| | Ninja Legends | older | $19.99 | 40 95% | 1.2k | $24k (exactly $23,988) | Coinflip Studios |
| | Huge Jaws | older | $24.99 | 23 65% | 690 | $17k (exactly $17,243) | Piece Of Voxel |
| | Oakenfold | older | $19.99 | 24 70% | 720 | $14k (exactly $14,393) | Rutger van Dijk |
| | Loser Simulator | older | $1.99 | 89 86% | 2.7k | $5.3k (exactly $5,313) | Frosted Wings Studio |
| | Anomaly Protocol | · EA | $4.99 | 33 72% | 990 | $4.9k (exactly $4,940) | Oriland |
| | KeyBreach | $4.99 | 21 95% | 630 | $3.1k (exactly $3,144) | sawworm Games | |
| | Rogum A Cat Match Puzzle | $5.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $2.9k (exactly $2,875) | DevGamesRo | |
| | Wild Script: Nature | · EA | $4.99 | 16 93% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | Surdarium |
| | Symphorix | · EA | $5.99 | 12 100% | 360 | $2.2k (exactly $2,156) | OnTriggerJoy |
| | Age of Damnation | $6.99 | 6 33% | 180 | $1.3k (exactly $1,258) | WukaStudio | |
| | Anaria | $2.99 | 11 54% | 330 | $987 (exactly $987) | VOIDEMBER | |
| | Miryam: The Polluted Land | $4.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | 6.5F Studio | |
| | Layers of Bust | $8.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $539 (exactly $539) | CupCupMug |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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