Games › Survival Horror › Survival Horror + Tactical
Should I ship a Survival Horror Tactical game?
Survival Horror + Tactical
Of 53 developers who shipped a Survival Horror Tactical 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.. 97 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $580k, ×924 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 97 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $718 (exactly $718) |
| Top 25% | $3.4k (exactly $3,358) |
| Top 5% | $580k (exactly $580,314) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 53 |
| Released games | 144 |
| Announced | 97 |
| 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 45% on the market, supply 30% more 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 Horror
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Tactical
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Survival Horror, Tactical; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Online Co-Op, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Dark, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 51% positive over 62,347 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 27 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 97 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Survival Horror with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + DrivingFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + SnowFair
- + SportsFair
- + Outbreak SimFair
- + 3D PlatformerFair
- + Boomer ShooterFair
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Spectacle fighterPoor odds
Comparable games
Left 4 Dead 2 2009 · $245M 
Hunt: Showdown 1896 2019 · $192M 
Escape from Tarkov 2025 · $84M 
GTFO 2021 · $55M 
Six Days in Fallujah 2023 · EA · $16M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Left 4 Dead 2 | older | $9.99 | 816,316 97% | 24M | $245M (exactly $244,649,905) | Valve |
| | Hunt: Showdown 1896 | older | $29.99 | 213,023 74% | 6.4M | $192M (exactly $191,656,793) | Crytek |
| | Escape from Tarkov | $49.99 | 55,824 49% | 1.7M | $84M (exactly $83,719,253) | Battlestate Games | |
| | GTFO | older | $39.99 | 46,184 86% | 1.4M | $55M (exactly $55,406,945) | 10 Chambers |
| | Six Days in Fallujah | · EA older | $39.99 | 13,012 79% | 390k | $16M (exactly $15,610,496) | Highwire Games |
 | Call of Duty®: Ghosts | older | $39.99 | 12,976 66% | 389k | $16M (exactly $15,567,307) | Infinity Ward |
 | Demonologist | older | $19.99 | 18,886 85% | 567k | $11M (exactly $11,325,934) | Clock Wizard Games |
 | Cepheus Protocol | · EA older | $19.99 | 2,983 76% | 89k | $1.8M (exactly $1,788,905) | Halcyon Winds |
 | At Dead Of Night | older | $15.99 | 3,289 94% | 99k | $1.6M (exactly $1,577,733) | Baggy Cat Ltd. |
 | Level Zero: Extraction | $19.99 | 2,446 50% | 73k | $1.5M (exactly $1,466,866) | Doghowl Games | |
 | Whisper Mountain Outbreak | · EA | $7.99 | 2,421 84% | 73k | $580k (exactly $580,314) | Toge Productions |
 | Project Unknown | $9.99 | 776 81% | 23k | $233k (exactly $232,567) | PsychoRavens | |
 | Ultimate Zombie Defense 2 | $9.99 | 589 76% | 18k | $177k (exactly $176,523) | Terror Dog Studio | |
 | Chasmal Fear | $19.99 | 55 52% | 1.7k | $33k (exactly $32,984) | MystiveDev | |
 | Who's Next? | $4.99 | 123 87% | 3.7k | $18k (exactly $18,413) | HellAssociation | |
 | Camelot 10000CE | $7.99 | 47 93% | 1.4k | $11k (exactly $11,266) | Miziziziz | |
 | TIC-TAC: Twelve o'clock | $9.99 | 31 80% | 930 | $9.3k (exactly $9,291) | ARMAG | |
 | Victor's Test Night: REVES | $7.99 | 35 97% | 1.1k | $8.4k (exactly $8,390) | 727 Not Hound |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.