Games › Driving › Driving + Adventure
Should I ship an Adventure Driving game?
Driving + Adventure
Of 209 developers who shipped an Adventure Driving 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.. 381 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.1k, ×3.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $1.7M, ×2726 the market median. Revenue is up 45% on the market; 381 games are announced against 116 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $628 (exactly $628) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) |
| Top 25% | $21k (exactly $20,808) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,711,698) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 209 |
| Released games | 595 |
| Announced | 381 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 45% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Driving, Adventure; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Simulation, Action
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic, 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 89% positive over 234,226 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 7 in 10 of the 108 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 381 games are announced against 116 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Driving with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Psychological HorrorFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Survival HorrorFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MusicFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + LogicFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
Forza Horizon 5 2021 · $468M 
Euro Truck Simulator 2 2012 · $454M 
BeamNG.drive 2015 · EA · $291M 
Need for Speed™ Heat 2020 · $271M 
Need for Speed™ Unbound 2022 · $105M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Forza Horizon 5 | older | $59.99 | 260,218 89% | 7.8M | $468M (exactly $468,314,335) | Playground Games |
| | Euro Truck Simulator 2 | older | $19.99 | 756,984 97% | 23M | $454M (exactly $453,963,305) | SCS Software |
| | BeamNG.drive | · EA older | $24.99 | 388,236 97% | 12M | $291M (exactly $291,060,529) | BeamNG |
| | Need for Speed™ Heat | older | $69.99 | 128,933 84% | 3.9M | $271M (exactly $270,720,620) | Ghost Games |
| | Need for Speed™ Unbound | older | $69.99 | 49,862 61% | 1.5M | $105M (exactly $104,695,241) | Criterion Games |
 | American Truck Simulator | older | $19.99 | 165,692 97% | 5.0M | $99M (exactly $99,365,492) | SCS Software |
 | The Crew™ 2 | older | $29.99 | 86,533 78% | 2.6M | $78M (exactly $77,853,740) | Ivory Tower |
 | My Summer Car | $14.99 | 108,503 94% | 3.3M | $49M (exactly $48,793,799) | Amistech Games | |
 | SnowRunner | older | $29.99 | 46,343 90% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $41,694,797) | Saber Interactive |
 | Mad Max | older | $19.99 | 57,651 91% | 1.7M | $35M (exactly $34,573,305) | Avalanche Studios |
 | RV There Yet? | $7.99 | 72,732 90% | 2.2M | $17M (exactly $17,433,860) | Nuggets Entertainment | |
 | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
 | Drive Beyond Horizons | · EA | $24.99 | 17,903 77% | 537k | $13M (exactly $13,421,879) | Drive Beyond Horizons |
 | Train Sim World® 5 | $39.99 | 3,028 80% | 91k | $3.6M (exactly $3,632,692) | Dovetail Games | |
 | Keep Driving | $17.99 | 6,188 93% | 186k | $3.3M (exactly $3,339,664) | YCJY Games | |
 | MindsEye | $34.99 | 2,855 48% | 86k | $3.0M (exactly $2,996,894) | Build A Rocket Boy | |
 | My Garage | $19.99 | 4,010 90% | 120k | $2.4M (exactly $2,404,797) | Viking Game Studio | |
 | Samson | $24.99 | 2,911 54% | 87k | $2.2M (exactly $2,182,377) | Liquid Swords | |
 | Promise Mascot Agency | $24.99 | 2,569 96% | 77k | $1.9M (exactly $1,925,979) | Kaizen Game Works |
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.