Games › Automation › Automation + Action
Should I ship an Action Automation game?
Automation + Action
Of 114 developers who shipped an Action Automation 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.. 244 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 $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $1.4M, ×2289 the market median. Revenue is up 530% on the market; 244 games are announced against 76 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
| Top 25% | $44k (exactly $43,827) |
| Top 5% | $1.4M (exactly $1,437,481) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 114 |
| Released games | 243 |
| Announced | 244 |
| 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 530% on the market, supply 95% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Automation
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Action
- 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
- Automation, Action; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Crafting, Building, Simulation
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 748,491 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 42 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 244 games are announced against 76 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Automation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + Female ProtagonistStrong odds
- + Open World Survival CraftFair
- + HorrorFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + Class-BasedFair
- + MiningFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + FishingFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
Comparable games
Palworld 2026 · $371M 
Schedule I 2025 · EA · $173M 
Craftopia 2020 · EA · $13M 
Necesse 2025 · $11M 
Outpost: Infinity Siege 2024 · $8.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Palworld | $29.99 | 411,947 94% | 12M | $371M (exactly $370,628,716) | Pocketpair | |
| | Schedule I | · EA | $19.99 | 288,939 97% | 8.7M | $173M (exactly $173,276,718) | TVGS |
| | Craftopia | · EA older | $24.99 | 17,705 76% | 531k | $13M (exactly $13,273,438) | Pocketpair |
| | Necesse | $14.99 | 24,425 93% | 733k | $11M (exactly $10,983,922) | Fair Games ApS | |
| | Outpost: Infinity Siege | older | $24.99 | 11,636 65% | 349k | $8.7M (exactly $8,723,509) | Team Ranger |
 | StarRupture | · EA | $19.99 | 12,333 80% | 370k | $7.4M (exactly $7,396,100) | Creepy Jar |
 | Mindustry | older | $9.99 | 24,608 95% | 738k | $7.4M (exactly $7,375,018) | AnukenDev |
 | SimplePlanes | older | $12.99 | 9,811 93% | 294k | $3.8M (exactly $3,823,347) | Jundroo, LLC |
 | KartKraft™ | older | $24.99 | 2,987 73% | 90k | $2.2M (exactly $2,239,354) | Motorsport Games |
 | Sandustry | · EA | $14.99 | 4,805 97% | 144k | $2.2M (exactly $2,160,808) | Lantto Games |
 | Astro Colony | $19.99 | 2,397 80% | 72k | $1.4M (exactly $1,437,481) | Terad Games | |
 | Return from Core | $16.99 | 1,620 75% | 49k | $826k (exactly $825,714) | 顽核社 FuncoreClub | |
 | Alaska Gold Fever | $16.99 | 959 79% | 29k | $489k (exactly $488,802) | Baked Games | |
 | Wreckreation | $39.99 | 360 63% | 11k | $432k (exactly $431,892) | Three Fields Entertainment | |
 | Astronomics | · EA | $19.99 | 706 89% | 21k | $423k (exactly $423,388) | Numizmatic |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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