Games › Board Game › Board Game + Aliens
Should I ship an Alien Board Game?
Board Game + Aliens
Only 9 developers shipped an Alien Board 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, Stellar Orphans, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 21 more are announced, ×5.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.
Only 4 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $5.8k against a market of $480. 21 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.8k (exactly $5,756) |
| Top 25% | $37k (exactly $37,022) |
| Top 5% | $71k (exactly $70,848) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 44 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $12.99 |
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 640% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Board Game
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 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
- Board Game
- Price point
- $12.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 2,200 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 21 games are announced against 4 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Board Game with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Party-Based RPGFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair
- + JRPGFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + SpaceFair
- + Alternate HistoryFair
- + MahjongFair
- + Party GameFair
- + DragonsFair
Comparable games
Nemesis: Lockdown 2022 · $549k 
Gaia Project 2021 · $263k 
The Banished Vault 2023 · $142k 
Stellar Orphans 2024 · $71k 
Space Food Truck 2016 · $65k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Nemesis: Lockdown | older | $24.99 | 732 68% | 22k | $549k (exactly $548,780) | InterStudio |
| | Gaia Project | older | $24.99 | 351 80% | 11k | $263k (exactly $263,145) | DIGIDICED |
| | The Banished Vault | older | $24.99 | 189 78% | 5.7k | $142k (exactly $141,693) | Lunar Division |
| | Stellar Orphans | $16.99 | 139 71% | 4.2k | $71k (exactly $70,848) | Artifex Parvus | |
| | Space Food Truck | older | $9.99 | 216 71% | 6.5k | $65k (exactly $64,735) | One Man Left Studios |
 | Galaxy Trucker: Extended Edition | older | $9.99 | 213 89% | 6.4k | $64k (exactly $63,836) | CGE Digital |
 | Amberspire | $24.99 | 58 86% | 1.7k | $43k (exactly $43,483) | Lunar Division | |
 | The Captain is Dead | older | $19.99 | 66 78% | 2.0k | $40k (exactly $39,580) | Thunderbox Entertainment |
 | Eclipse - 2nd Dawn for the Galaxy | $12.99 | 95 57% | 2.9k | $37k (exactly $37,022) | BrettspielWelt GmbH | |
 | Smash Up | older | $6.99 | 141 60% | 4.2k | $30k (exactly $29,568) | Nomad Games |
 | Astro Protocol | $11.99 | 66 93% | 2.0k | $24k (exactly $23,740) | Null Vector Studios | |
 | Witchcrafter The TCG | $15.99 | 12 83% | 360 | $5.8k (exactly $5,756) | Spear Group Limited | |
 | UniWar | $7.99 | 14 71% | 420 | $3.4k (exactly $3,356) | Spooky House | |
 | Space Memory TDG | $4.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | TDG Gaming Studio | |
 | Teamfight Royale | $3.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Festucs Interactive | |
 | HexSwarm: Hostile Worlds | $29.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Studio in Progress |
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.