Games › Space Sim › Space Sim + 3D Platformer
Should I ship a 3D Platformer Space Sim?
Space Sim + 3D Platformer
Only 18 developers shipped a 3D Platformer Space Sim 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, Drifter Star: Evolution, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $210 in the last 2 years and $270 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 9 developers shipped in the last year and 24 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $210 (exactly $210) |
| Top 25% | $359 (exactly $359) |
| Top 5% | $139k (exactly $139,450) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 73 |
| Announced | 24 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 110% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Space Sim
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- 3D Platformer
- 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
- Space Sim, 3D Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Adventure, Crafting
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- all of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 1,229 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Space Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DestructionFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + WarFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SportsFair
- + DiplomacyLong shot
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Strategy RPGPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Exo One | older | $16.99 | 5,053 89% | 152k | $2.6M (exactly $2,575,514) | Exbleative |
| | Drifter Star: Evolution | $3.99 | 1,165 73% | 35k | $139k (exactly $139,450) | Kayla Studio | |
| | Intergalactic Ecstasy | older | $14.99 | 60 86% | 1.8k | $27k (exactly $26,982) | HFTGames |
| | Keplerian Space Discovery | · EA | $24.99 | 25 88% | 750 | $19k (exactly $18,742) | Kugelblitz |
| | Spaceship Driver License | older | $49.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $16k (exactly $16,497) | Gamesforgames |
| | Mars Rover Simulator | older | $19.99 | 24 25% | 720 | $14k (exactly $14,393) | DexterCoding |
| | Man in gravity | older | $24.99 | 12 91% | 360 | $9.0k (exactly $8,996) | Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich |
| | Black Hole Simulator | older | $1.99 | 141 82% | 4.2k | $8.4k (exactly $8,418) | PanGuoJun |
| | TuHou Remilia - Begin Of Scarlet Family | older | $6.99 | 33 9% | 990 | $6.9k (exactly $6,920) | CoKe_Deer |
| | Metapilot | older | $19.99 | 10 70% | 300 | $6.0k (exactly $5,997) | neurobotx, www.neurobotx.ai |
| | Starfield Battlegrounds | $6.99 | 13 69% | 390 | $2.7k (exactly $2,726) | 谭浩翔 | |
| | Hexfactory | $4.99 | 10 60% | 300 | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) | Aquila Industrial | |
| | Initial Civilization | $3.99 | 3 0% | 90 | $359 (exactly $359) | Sun Peiyi | |
| | Solitary Astral Voyage | $3.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $359 (exactly $359) | Cruel Light | |
| | G-ASTRO | $2.50 | 4 100% | 120 | $300 (exactly $300) | ConnorRMCG | |
| | Sad Virus Space | $2.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $269 (exactly $269) | DIG Games | |
| | Muhe space | $6.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $210 (exactly $210) | klmfs | |
| | OutSpaceX_EP1 | · EA | $2.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $179 (exactly $179) | Fun2Studio |
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.