Games › Adventure › Adventure + Mining
Should I ship a Mining Adventure game?
Adventure + Mining
Of 171 developers who shipped a Mining Adventure 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.. 320 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×4.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $610k, ×1292 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 320 games are announced against 108 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $479 (exactly $479) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,158) |
| Top 25% | $38k (exactly $38,376) |
| Top 5% | $614k (exactly $613,792) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 171 |
| Released games | 401 |
| Announced | 320 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 down 25% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, 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
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Adventure, Mining; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Crafting, Sandbox
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 55,110 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 7 in 10 of the 76 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 320 games are announced against 108 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Adventure with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SamuraiFair
- + FMVFair
- + PinballFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Mini GolfFair
- + SportsFair
- + GolfFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
Comparable games
ICARUS 2021 · $59M 
My Time at Portia 2019 · $31M 
My Time at Sandrock 2023 · $29M 
Coral Island 2023 · $20M 
Sun Haven 2023 · $17M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ICARUS | older | $34.99 | 55,849 75% | 1.7M | $59M (exactly $58,624,695) | RocketWerkz |
| | My Time at Portia | older | $29.99 | 34,844 91% | 1.0M | $31M (exactly $31,349,147) | Pathea Games |
| | My Time at Sandrock | older | $39.99 | 24,110 88% | 723k | $29M (exactly $28,924,767) | Pathea Games |
| | Coral Island | older | $29.99 | 21,828 89% | 655k | $20M (exactly $19,638,652) | Stairway Games |
| | Sun Haven | older | $24.99 | 22,069 79% | 662k | $17M (exactly $16,545,129) | Pixel Sprout Studios |
 | Hydroneer | older | $14.99 | 27,131 85% | 814k | $12M (exactly $12,200,811) | Foulball Hangover |
 | Gold Mining Simulator | older | $19.99 | 15,132 72% | 454k | $9.1M (exactly $9,074,660) | Code Horizon |
 | Luma Island | $19.99 | 11,204 84% | 336k | $6.7M (exactly $6,719,039) | Feel Free Games | |
 | UnderMine | older | $19.99 | 9,284 90% | 279k | $5.6M (exactly $5,567,615) | Thorium |
 | Melvor Idle | older | $9.99 | 14,630 90% | 439k | $4.4M (exactly $4,384,611) | Games by Malcs |
 | The Quinfall | $9.99 | 12,073 50% | 362k | $3.6M (exactly $3,618,278) | Vawraek Technology Inc. | |
 | A Game About Digging A Hole™ | $4.99 | 18,785 89% | 564k | $2.8M (exactly $2,812,114) | DoubleBee | |
 | AETHUS | $19.99 | 2,030 94% | 61k | $1.2M (exactly $1,217,391) | Pawsmonaut Games | |
 | Planet Centauri | $14.99 | 2,102 75% | 63k | $945k (exactly $945,269) | Permadeath | |
 | Return from Core | $16.99 | 1,620 75% | 49k | $826k (exactly $825,714) | 顽核社 FuncoreClub | |
 | The Spotter: Dig or Die | $12.99 | 1,792 84% | 54k | $698k (exactly $698,342) | Puppyroar Games | |
 | Wall World 2 | $11.99 | 1,749 73% | 52k | $629k (exactly $629,115) | Alawar | |
 | Keep Digging | $6.99 | 2,927 79% | 88k | $614k (exactly $613,792) | Wild Dog | |
 | UnderMine 2 | · EA | $19.99 | 828 75% | 25k | $497k (exactly $496,552) | Thorium |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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