Games › Flight › Flight + Adventure
Should I ship an Adventure Flight game?
Flight + Adventure
Of 144 developers who shipped an Adventure Flight 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.. 236 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $840, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $160k, ×266 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 236 games are announced against 81 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $839 (exactly $839) |
| Top 25% | $5.7k (exactly $5,694) |
| Top 5% | $167k (exactly $167,316) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 144 |
| Released games | 624 |
| Announced | 236 |
| 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 30% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Flight, Adventure; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Open World, Action
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 96,538 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 9 in 10 of the 78 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 236 games are announced against 81 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Flight with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Choose Your Own AdventureFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
- + CatsFair
- + Life SimPoor odds
- + TradingPoor odds
- + MiningPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + EconomyPoor odds
- + RTSPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
Comparable games
Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition 2026 · $126M 
The Crew™ 2 2018 · $78M 
STAR WARS™: Squadrons 2020 · $30M 
Trailmakers 2019 · $25M 
EVERSPACE™ 2 2023 · $18M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition | $59.99 | 70,073 78% | 2.1M | $126M (exactly $126,110,378) | Asobo Studio | |
| | The Crew™ 2 | older | $29.99 | 86,533 78% | 2.6M | $78M (exactly $77,853,740) | Ivory Tower |
| | STAR WARS™: Squadrons | older | $39.99 | 25,086 66% | 753k | $30M (exactly $30,095,674) | MOTIVE |
| | Trailmakers | older | $24.99 | 33,465 92% | 1.0M | $25M (exactly $25,088,710) | Flashbulb |
| | EVERSPACE™ 2 | older | $49.99 | 12,040 85% | 361k | $18M (exactly $18,056,388) | ROCKFISH Games |
 | Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition | older | $24.99 | 23,349 86% | 700k | $18M (exactly $17,504,745) | Microsoft Game Studios |
 | X-Plane 11 | older | $29.99 | 19,206 92% | 576k | $17M (exactly $17,279,638) | Laminar Research |
 | Bomb Rush Cyberfunk | older | $39.99 | 12,645 98% | 379k | $15M (exactly $15,170,206) | Team Reptile |
 | Transport Fever | older | $29.99 | 9,278 82% | 278k | $8.3M (exactly $8,347,417) | Urban Games |
 | Jump Space | · EA | $19.99 | 10,724 85% | 322k | $6.4M (exactly $6,431,183) | Keepsake Games |
 | Aviassembly | · EA | $9.99 | 9,323 96% | 280k | $2.8M (exactly $2,794,103) | Jelle Booij |
 | Lost Skies | $24.99 | 2,470 63% | 74k | $1.9M (exactly $1,851,759) | Bossa Studios | |
 | Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator | $34.99 | 1,319 97% | 40k | $1.4M (exactly $1,384,554) | Lyra Creative | |
 | Approximately Up | $24.99 | 995 93% | 30k | $746k (exactly $745,952) | Approximately Games | |
 | Echoes of Elysium | · EA | $19.99 | 506 61% | 15k | $303k (exactly $303,448) | Loric Games, Inc. |
 | ROGUE FLIGHT | $19.99 | 279 96% | 8.4k | $167k (exactly $167,316) | Truant Pixel, LLC | |
 | Time Flies | $14.99 | 370 96% | 11k | $166k (exactly $166,389) | Playables | |
 | Lakehopper | · EA | $9.99 | 479 88% | 14k | $144k (exactly $143,556) | Photon Games |
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.