Games › Survival › Survival + Visual Novel
Should I ship a Visual Novel Survival game?
Survival + Visual Novel
Of 75 developers who shipped a Visual Novel 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.. 115 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×4.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $340k, ×554 the market median. Revenue is up 275% on the market; 115 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $629 (exactly $629) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,691) |
| Top 25% | $34k (exactly $34,166) |
| Top 5% | $348k (exactly $347,952) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 75 |
| Released games | 268 |
| Announced | 115 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 275% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Visual Novel
- effort 2 / 10 · high · script, choices and static art
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival, Visual Novel; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Simulation, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Cinematic, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 25,540 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 7 in 10 of the 39 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 115 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 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
The Walking Dead 2012 · $24M 
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc 2016 · $22M 
The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- 2025 · $12M 
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier 2016 · $7.0M 
Digimon Survive 2022 · $5.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Walking Dead | older | $14.99 | 53,650 97% | 1.6M | $24M (exactly $24,126,405) | Telltale Games |
| | Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc | older | $19.99 | 36,194 96% | 1.1M | $22M (exactly $21,705,542) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction G… (Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction Games) |
| | The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- | $59.99 | 6,893 88% | 207k | $12M (exactly $12,405,332) | Too Kyo Games, Media.Vision Inc. | |
| | The Walking Dead: A New Frontier | older | $14.99 | 15,482 83% | 464k | $7.0M (exactly $6,962,255) | Telltale Games |
| | Digimon Survive | older | $59.99 | 3,124 78% | 94k | $5.6M (exactly $5,622,263) | HYDE, Inc. |
 | SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris | older | $19.99 | 5,017 61% | 151k | $3.0M (exactly $3,008,695) | AQURIA Co., Ltd. |
 | The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall | $11.99 | 8,227 58% | 247k | $3.0M (exactly $2,959,252) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) | |
 | HENPRI | $24.99 | 3,903 96% | 117k | $2.9M (exactly $2,926,079) | Qruppo | |
 | Seed of the Dead: Sweet Home | older | $29.99 | 3,006 83% | 90k | $2.7M (exactly $2,704,498) | TeamKRAMA |
 | NUKITASHI | older | $24.99 | 3,460 95% | 104k | $2.6M (exactly $2,593,962) | Qruppo |
 | 荒岛求生：逃出美女岛 | $9.99 | 1,161 93% | 35k | $348k (exactly $347,952) | 翱游科技AlbatrooGame, 荒岛互动娱乐 | |
 | Blood Money: Lethal Eden | $8.99 | 1,262 91% | 38k | $340k (exactly $340,361) | 碧火互娱 | |
 | Misty Judgment | $8.99 | 1,170 92% | 35k | $316k (exactly $315,549) | 次元边界 | |
 | The Coma 2B: Catacomb | $14.99 | 584 75% | 18k | $263k (exactly $262,625) | Dvora Studio Co., Ltd. | |
 | Evil School | $7.99 | 1,058 92% | 32k | $254k (exactly $253,603) | CineGame Interactive | |
 | Inner Scales 1:Choice | $6.99 | 929 84% | 28k | $195k (exactly $194,811) | MYSTERY CROWN | |
 | The Coma 3: Bloodlines | $14.99 | 353 86% | 11k | $159k (exactly $158,744) | Dvora Studio Co., Ltd. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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