Do I ship it?

Games › Survival Horror › Survival Horror + Time Management

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Time Management Survival Horror?

Survival Horror + Time Management

Of 71 developers who shipped a Time Management Survival Horror 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.. 118 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 $960, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×216 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 118 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.5 times the market baseline, revenue flat on the market, 118 announced, ×3.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Survival Horror + Time Management
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 71
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $5.7k → $327 → $2.4k → $1.2k → $3.7k → $719 → $959 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Survival Horror + Time Management: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 71
Bottom 30% $239 (exactly $239)
Median $959 (exactly $959)
Top 25% $9.7k (exactly $9,696)
Top 5% $136k (exactly $135,764)
Developers, 2 yr 71
Released games 139
Announced 118
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 flat on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Time Management
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Survival Horror, Time Management; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Simulation
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, First-Person, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 94% positive over 333,064 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $960, 1 in 4 over $9.6k, 1 in 20 over $130k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. 7 in 10 of the 36 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 118 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Survival Horror with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVFair13 devs · median $31k · 14 announced
  2. + DrivingFair20 devs · median $4.9k · 25 announced
  3. + Tower DefenseFair14 devs · median $1.9k · 16 announced
  4. + IncrementalFair16 devs · median $1.6k · 19 announced
  5. + SnowFair17 devs · median $1.2k · 15 announced
  6. + SportsFair5 devs · median $959 · 3 announced
  7. + Outbreak SimFair22 devs · median $958 · 24 announced
  8. + 3D PlatformerFair111 devs · median $539 · 104 announced
  9. + Boomer ShooterFair27 devs · median $449 · 28 announced
  10. + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds10 devs · median $64k · 42 announced
  11. + LGBTQ+Poor odds17 devs · median $52k · 21 announced
  12. + Spectacle fighterPoor odds8 devs · median $52k · 12 announced

All 159 pairs on the Survival Horror page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Lethal Company 2023 · EA · $123M PEAK 2025 · $72M Sultan's Game 2025 · $19M Content Warning 2024 · $17M Pacify 2019 · $4.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Lethal Company · EA older $9.99 411,550 97% 12M $123M (exactly $123,341,535) Zeekerss
PEAK $7.99 301,964 94% 9.1M $72M (exactly $72,380,771) Team PEAK
Sultan's Game $24.99 25,061 93% 752k $19M (exactly $18,788,232) Double Cross
Content Warning older $7.99 72,444 93% 2.2M $17M (exactly $17,364,827) Zorro, Wilnyl, Philip, thePetHen, Skog
Pacify older $4.99 32,921 86% 988k $4.9M (exactly $4,928,274) Shawn Hitchcock
Murky Divers $8.99 3,981 87% 119k $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) Embers
Happy's Humble Burger Farm older $19.99 1,704 93% 51k $1.0M (exactly $1,021,889) Scythe Dev Team
Backrooms: Lost Tape older $15.99 1,334 81% 40k $640k (exactly $639,920) Cortez Productions
The Price Of Flesh older $14.99 1,038 96% 31k $467k (exactly $466,789) Gatobob
Backrooms Cleanup Crew · EA $9.99 453 91% 14k $136k (exactly $135,764) On The Bridge Games
Wasteland Bites $9.99 440 93% 13k $132k (exactly $131,868) CosmicDev
Corner Shop: NightShift $19.99 206 84% 6.2k $124k (exactly $123,538) Live Motion Games
Angel Engine $7.99 303 80% 9.1k $73k (exactly $72,629) HMS Studios, Black Lantern Collective
Hired 2 Die $9.99 169 82% 5.1k $51k (exactly $50,649) Electric Monkeys
Jeffrey Eggstein · EA $4.99 290 94% 8.7k $43k (exactly $43,413) Grabba Guild Games LLC
Creepy Shift: Roadside Diner $6.99 197 87% 5.9k $41k (exactly $41,311) Night Shift Team

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.