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Should I ship an Alien Auto Battler?
Auto Battler + Aliens
Of 20 developers who shipped an Alien Auto Battler 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.. 27 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $2.6M, ×5652 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 27 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $26k (exactly $26,083) |
| Top 5% | $2.7M (exactly $2,684,890) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 20 |
| Released games | 38 |
| Announced | 27 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 85% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Auto Battler
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Aliens
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Auto Battler; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelite, Strategy, Tactical
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.49 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.49 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 6,812 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 7 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 27 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Auto Battler with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Action RTSFair
- + SimulationFair
- + EconomyFair
- + SandboxFair
- + CyberpunkFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + CatsFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + SwordplayFair
Comparable games
Tower Dominion 2025 · $2.7M 
Down with the Ship 2026 · EA · $367k 
Xenopurge 2025 · $157k 
Swarm Queen 2017 · $86k 
Lazy Galaxy 2 2022 · $40k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tower Dominion | $17.49 | 5,117 85% | 154k | $2.7M (exactly $2,684,890) | Parallel 45 Games | |
| | Down with the Ship | · EA | $14.99 | 817 93% | 25k | $367k (exactly $367,405) | Iron Anchor Games |
| | Xenopurge | $12.49 | 419 84% | 13k | $157k (exactly $156,999) | Traptics | |
| | Swarm Queen | older | $7.49 | 384 94% | 12k | $86k (exactly $86,285) | Helmi Bastami (Flyborg.net) |
| | Lazy Galaxy 2 | older | $7.99 | 167 77% | 5.0k | $40k (exactly $40,030) | Coldwild Games |
 | Battle Grid | older | $5.99 | 204 80% | 6.1k | $37k (exactly $36,659) | Barking Dogs |
 | Corrupted: Dawn of Havoc | · EA older | $14.99 | 75 65% | 2.3k | $34k (exactly $33,728) | 36Litters |
 | Steve's Warehouse: Physics. Roguelike. Chaos. | $7.99 | 130 87% | 3.9k | $31k (exactly $31,161) | Definitely Named Steve | |
 | Flaregate Network | $14.99 | 58 77% | 1.7k | $26k (exactly $26,083) | Keycard Studio, LLC | |
 | Inventorix | $4.99 | 131 100% | 3.9k | $20k (exactly $19,611) | Arcaludi | |
 | Live Hard, Die Hard | $4.99 | 83 89% | 2.5k | $12k (exactly $12,425) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
 | Idle Stellar | $4.99 | 45 60% | 1.4k | $6.7k (exactly $6,736) | Noody Games | |
 | Disaster Blaster | $9.99 | 9 88% | 270 | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) | Jarsick | |
 | StarShipdle | · EA | $4.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $449 (exactly $449) | CapriGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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