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Should I ship an Alien Incremental game?
Incremental + Aliens
Of 41 developers who shipped an Alien Incremental 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.. 55 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $960, ×2.0 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $450. Revenue is up 95% on the market; 55 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $958 (exactly $958) |
| Top 25% | $4.6k (exactly $4,613) |
| Top 5% | $88k (exactly $88,072) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 41 |
| Released games | 89 |
| Announced | 55 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.00 |
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 95% on the market, supply 140% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
- 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
- Incremental; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Idler, Point & Click
- Price point
- $5.00 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $5.00.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 1,728 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 8 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 55 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Incremental with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + OtomeStrong odds
- + Martial ArtsFair
- + FarmingFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + MiningFair
- + Souls-likeFair
- + Arena ShooterFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + LootFair
- + SupernaturalFair
Comparable games
Insaniquarium Deluxe 2006 · $958k 
Polda 7 2022 · $268k 
Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite 2025 · $125k 
Earth Must Die 2026 · $114k 
Mosaic of the Strange 2025 · $88k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Insaniquarium Deluxe | older | $4.99 | 6,398 96% | 192k | $958k (exactly $957,781) | PopCap Games, Inc. |
| | Polda 7 | older | $17.99 | 496 92% | 15k | $268k (exactly $267,691) | Zima software |
| | Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite | $5.99 | 698 83% | 21k | $125k (exactly $125,431) | RyanJakob | |
| | Earth Must Die | $15.99 | 238 85% | 7.1k | $114k (exactly $114,169) | Size Five Games | |
| | Mosaic of the Strange | $12.99 | 226 92% | 6.8k | $88k (exactly $88,072) | Mark Ffrench | |
 | Lazy Galaxy 2 | older | $7.99 | 167 77% | 5.0k | $40k (exactly $40,030) | Coldwild Games |
 | Solo Breeding | $9.99 | 132 53% | 4.0k | $40k (exactly $39,560) | Whiteleaf Studio | |
 | Sex Universe [18+] | older | $9.99 | 131 65% | 3.9k | $39k (exactly $39,261) | Octo Games |
 | We Need More Humans! | $6.99 | 142 72% | 4.3k | $30k (exactly $29,777) | Seafront Games | |
 | Femdemic - An Idle World Feminization Game | older | $14.99 | 64 53% | 1.9k | $29k (exactly $28,781) | Rel.Pink |
 | 翎之歌 | $6.99 | 83 89% | 2.5k | $17k (exactly $17,405) | YuKi制作组, 崩溃猛犸 | |
 | Sporbs | $4.99 | 92 78% | 2.8k | $14k (exactly $13,772) | Who Nose Studios | |
 | Love at The Milky Way Diner | · EA | $13.99 | 25 100% | 750 | $10k (exactly $10,492) | Lucky Kim, Emanuelle Heikens |
 | Terraforming Titans | $5.00 | 58 94% | 1.7k | $8.7k (exactly $8,700) | terraforming.titans | |
 | IDLE: Intergalactic Defense League Exterminators | $5.99 | 34 64% | 1.0k | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) | PolyB Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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