Games › Automation › Automation + Aliens
Should I ship an Alien Automation game?
Automation + Aliens
Only 17 developers shipped an Alien Automation game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Xenopurge, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 36 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×250 the market median. Revenue is up 615% on the market; 36 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $450 (exactly $450) |
| Top 25% | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) |
| Top 5% | $157k (exactly $156,999) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 50 |
| Announced | 36 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 615% on the market, supply 140% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 26%, 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
- Aliens
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Procedural Generation, Strategy
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 557 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 36 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Automation with a different setting or mood, 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
The Planet Crafter 2024 · $50M 
Infinifactory 2015 · $1.3M 
No Creeps Were Harmed TD 2024 · $281k 
Xenopurge 2025 · $157k 
Kitchen Crisis 2024 · $140k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Planet Crafter | older | $23.99 | 68,855 96% | 2.1M | $50M (exactly $49,554,944) | Miju Games |
| | Infinifactory | older | $24.99 | 1,790 95% | 54k | $1.3M (exactly $1,341,963) | Zachtronics |
| | No Creeps Were Harmed TD | older | $19.99 | 468 88% | 14k | $281k (exactly $280,660) | MinMax Games Ltd. |
| | Xenopurge | $12.49 | 419 84% | 13k | $157k (exactly $156,999) | Traptics | |
| | Kitchen Crisis | older | $14.99 | 311 74% | 9.3k | $140k (exactly $139,857) | Team Samoyed |
 | PRODUCER 2021 | older | $9.99 | 164 100% | 4.9k | $49k (exactly $49,151) | Stuffed Wombat, ThorHighHeels |
 | Femdemic - An Idle World Feminization Game | older | $14.99 | 64 53% | 1.9k | $29k (exactly $28,781) | Rel.Pink |
 | Trappist | older | $14.99 | 63 88% | 1.9k | $28k (exactly $28,331) | Sirrah |
 | Minicology | older | $14.99 | 53 64% | 1.6k | $24k (exactly $23,834) | Isaac Denner |
 | Project Astra Dominium | older | $9.99 | 69 88% | 2.1k | $21k (exactly $20,679) | Snob Entertainment UG |
 | Rebots | $14.99 | 41 70% | 1.2k | $18k (exactly $18,438) | FlatPonies | |
 | Terraforming Titans | $5.00 | 58 94% | 1.7k | $8.7k (exactly $8,700) | terraforming.titans | |
 | Mycelium Conquest | $14.99 | 13 76% | 390 | $5.8k (exactly $5,846) | YCF Productions | |
 | Disaster Blaster | $9.99 | 9 88% | 270 | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) | Jarsick | |
 | Alien Battlefield | $9.99 | 4 0% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | TapfunGame | |
 | UNIT 42: Adrift in Space | · EA | $4.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $898 (exactly $898) | AwitaGames |
 | Starshot Idle | $4.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $599 (exactly $599) | jake o'reilly | |
 | Irradiate 235 | · EA | $14.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $450 (exactly $450) | Team Boulder Games |
 | Odyssée Stellaire | $5.99 | 2 0% | 60 | $359 (exactly $359) | Exe.ye Loading |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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