Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Aliens

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Alien Flight game?

Flight + Aliens

Of 42 developers who shipped an Alien 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.. 64 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $150 in the last 2 years and $150 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 25 developers shipped in the last year and 64 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.2 times the market baseline, revenue up 125% on the market, 64 announced, ×2.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Aliens
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 42
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $59 → $240 → $599 → $298 → $200 → $90 → $359 (still earning) → $341 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Aliens: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 42
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $150 (exactly $150)
Top 25% $479 (exactly $479)
Top 5% $67k (exactly $66,723)
Developers, 2 yr 42
Released games 171
Announced 64
Effort 6 / 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 up 125% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Flight
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Aliens
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Flight; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Arcade
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 75% positive over 2,384 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $150, 1 in 4 over $470, 1 in 20 over $66k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 18 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 64 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Flight with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair9 devs · median $2.4k · 11 announced
  2. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $1.3k · 10 announced
  3. + Quick-Time EventsFair9 devs · median $657 · 9 announced
  4. + CatsFair6 devs · median $629 · 10 announced
  5. + Life SimPoor odds12 devs · median $70k · 29 announced
  6. + TradingPoor odds6 devs · median $36k · 21 announced
  7. + MiningPoor odds10 devs · median $35k · 13 announced
  8. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $19k · 57 announced
  9. + Base BuildingPoor odds23 devs · median $17k · 48 announced
  10. + EconomyPoor odds20 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  11. + RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $15k · 18 announced
  12. + Cold WarPoor odds10 devs · median $11k · 16 announced

All 132 pairs on the Flight page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Starminer 2026 · EA · $1.6M Megaton Rainfall 2017 · $1.0M Spacelines from the Far Out 2022 · $206k Starbreed 2026 · $89k HELL GALAXY 2026 · $67k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Starminer · EA $29.99 1,818 72% 55k $1.6M (exactly $1,635,655) CoolAndGoodGames
Megaton Rainfall older $15.99 2,155 71% 65k $1.0M (exactly $1,033,754) Pentadimensional Games, SL
Spacelines from the Far Out older $14.99 457 75% 14k $206k (exactly $205,513) Coffeenauts
Starbreed $10.99 271 95% 8.1k $89k (exactly $89,349) RegulusNSFW
HELL GALAXY $24.99 89 74% 2.7k $67k (exactly $66,723) Italian Games Factory
Galaxy Trucker: Extended Edition older $9.99 213 89% 6.4k $64k (exactly $63,836) CGE Digital
Raiden NOVA | 雷電NOVA | 雷電新星 $29.99 66 72% 2.0k $59k (exactly $59,380) MOSS Co., Ltd.
Switchcars older $8.99 164 90% 4.9k $44k (exactly $44,231) Altfuture
Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures older $19.99 63 58% 1.9k $38k (exactly $37,781) Stardust Collective
Space Gray X older $29.99 40 80% 1.2k $36k (exactly $35,988) Galactic Geckon
Alliance Peacefighter $18.99 56 83% 1.7k $32k (exactly $31,903) Urban Logic Games
Hotloop $2.99 47 85% 1.4k $4.2k (exactly $4,216) Tntlaxy GDS
Starfield Battlegrounds $6.99 13 69% 390 $2.7k (exactly $2,726) 谭浩翔
Galaxy Invaders - Eclipse Squadron $4.99 14 100% 420 $2.1k (exactly $2,096) PlayCube Interactive
Timeloop Titans $9.99 5 100% 150 $1.5k (exactly $1,498) LapaGames
The Giant Crab in Space $7.99 5 60% 150 $1.2k (exactly $1,198) TensionSplice

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.