Games › Survival › Survival + Turn-Based
Should I ship a Turn-Based Survival game?
Survival + Turn-Based
Only 19 developers shipped a Turn-Based 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, Caves of Qud, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 21 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $21k, ×33 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $11k; 1 in 20 cleared $10M, ×17037 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 21 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $10k (exactly $10,072) |
|---|---|
| Median | $21k (exactly $20,686) |
| Top 25% | $685k (exactly $685,454) |
| Top 5% | $11M (exactly $10,699,232) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 122 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $14.99 |
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 90% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, 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
- Turn-Based
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Turn-Based; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Roguelike, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $14.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 22,405 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $11k. 4 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 21 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 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
Wartales 2023 · $34M 
HUMANKIND™ 2021 · $33M 
Stoneshard 2020 · EA · $26M 
Total War: ATTILA 2015 · $16M 
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden 2018 · $14M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Wartales | older | $34.99 | 32,118 86% | 964k | $34M (exactly $33,714,265) | Shiro Games |
| | HUMANKIND™ | older | $49.99 | 22,165 68% | 665k | $33M (exactly $33,240,850) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
| | Stoneshard | · EA older | $24.99 | 34,149 74% | 1.0M | $26M (exactly $25,601,505) | Ink Stains Games |
| | Total War: ATTILA | older | $19.99 | 26,918 82% | 808k | $16M (exactly $16,142,725) | CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive |
| | Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden | older | $34.99 | 13,305 89% | 399k | $14M (exactly $13,966,258) | The Bearded Ladies |
 | Caves of Qud | $29.99 | 11,892 94% | 357k | $11M (exactly $10,699,232) | Freehold Games | |
 | Tainted Grail: Conquest | older | $19.99 | 7,589 90% | 228k | $4.6M (exactly $4,551,123) | Questline |
 | ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game | older | $14.99 | 9,991 84% | 300k | $4.5M (exactly $4,492,953) | AtomTeam |
 | Wasteland 2: Director's Cut | older | $29.99 | 4,664 82% | 140k | $4.2M (exactly $4,196,201) | inXile Entertainment |
 | Home Behind 2 | older | $19.99 | 6,585 86% | 198k | $3.9M (exactly $3,949,024) | TPP Studio |
 | The Last Flame | $19.99 | 2,744 85% | 82k | $1.6M (exactly $1,645,577) | Hotloop | |
 | How Many Dudes? | $14.99 | 2,948 89% | 88k | $1.3M (exactly $1,325,716) | Butterscotch Shenanigans | |
 | Card Survival: Fantasy Forest | · EA | $21.99 | 1,135 76% | 34k | $749k (exactly $748,760) | WinterSpring Games |
 | Urban Strife | $34.99 | 653 69% | 20k | $685k (exactly $685,454) | White Pond Games | |
 | Gnomes | $9.99 | 1,757 94% | 53k | $527k (exactly $526,573) | DYSTOPIAN | |
 | NITRO GEN OMEGA | $29.99 | 398 83% | 12k | $358k (exactly $358,081) | DESTINYbit | |
 | Sandwalkers | $19.99 | 490 73% | 15k | $294k (exactly $293,853) | Goblinz Studio | |
 | Choice of Life: Wild Islands | $6.99 | 342 92% | 10k | $72k (exactly $71,717) | Blazing Planet Studio | |
 | Azoove | $14.99 | 46 91% | 1.4k | $21k (exactly $20,686) | Timeless Toucan |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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