Games similar to Vampire Survivors have definitively emerged as a distinct genre. Auto-shooters, bullet heaven — there are many names for it. Today we will discuss the secret to the success of such projects, how much the representatives of this niche earn, as well as share exclusive opinions from developers on the specifics of their production.
In November 2025, Microsoft held the Xbox Partner Preview presentation. One of the announcements was a new game, Vampire Crawlers, from the studio Poncle, renowned for the indie hit Vampire Survivors. The most notable part of the trailer was the developers' declaration that they intend to “milk” their key brand “to the bone.”
Poncle is not joking. The explosive success of Vampire Survivors has spawned a separate genre and allowed the studio's founder, Luca Galante, to launch a publishing brand.
Next, we will discuss:
- Luca Galante’s path to worldwide success and the components that turned Vampire Survivors into a phenomenon;
- revenue, sales, and other metrics of key followers: Brotato, Ball x Pit, Survivor.io, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, and others;
- the state of the Survivors-like niche, including the median revenue of projects in this subgenre;
- what MidHard Games and HeroCraft think about the development and future of the genre.
