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Should I ship an Alien Simulation game?
Simulation + Aliens
Of 161 developers who shipped an Alien Simulation 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.. 261 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $990, ×1.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×180 the market median. Revenue is up 25% on the market; 261 games are announced against 98 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $987 (exactly $987) |
| Top 25% | $7.0k (exactly $6,951) |
| Top 5% | $113k (exactly $113,343) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 161 |
| Released games | 453 |
| Announced | 261 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 25% on the market, supply 50% more 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.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Aliens
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Strategy, Exploration
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $18.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 47,204 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 76 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 261 games are announced against 98 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Abiotic Factor 2025 · $44M 
SPORE™ 2008 · $40M 
Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ 2014 · $17M 
Breathedge 2021 · $11M 
Starship Troopers: Terran Command 2022 · $8.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Abiotic Factor | $34.99 | 42,075 95% | 1.3M | $44M (exactly $44,166,128) | Deep Field Games | |
| | SPORE™ | older | $19.99 | 66,871 92% | 2.0M | $40M (exactly $40,102,539) | Maxis™ |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ | older | $39.99 | 14,047 61% | 421k | $17M (exactly $16,852,186) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | Breathedge | older | $24.99 | 14,697 82% | 441k | $11M (exactly $11,018,341) | RedRuins Softworks |
| | Starship Troopers: Terran Command | older | $29.99 | 9,214 87% | 276k | $8.3M (exactly $8,289,836) | The Artistocrats |
 | The Universim | older | $29.99 | 8,465 79% | 254k | $7.6M (exactly $7,615,960) | Crytivo |
 | Halo Wars: Definitive Edition | older | $19.99 | 8,627 92% | 259k | $5.2M (exactly $5,173,612) | Ensemble Studios, Behaviour Interactive… (Ensemble Studios, Behaviour Interactive, 343 Industries) |
 | Surgeon Simulator | older | $9.99 | 13,796 82% | 414k | $4.1M (exactly $4,134,661) | Bossa Studios |
 | Xenonauts | older | $24.99 | 3,815 86% | 114k | $2.9M (exactly $2,860,106) | Goldhawk Interactive |
 | ENDLESS Space™ - Definitive Edition | older | $9.99 | 6,626 79% | 199k | $2.0M (exactly $1,985,812) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
 | The Spotter: Dig or Die | $12.99 | 1,792 84% | 54k | $698k (exactly $698,342) | Puppyroar Games | |
 | Exogate Initiative | $24.99 | 691 75% | 21k | $518k (exactly $518,043) | Xeno Bits | |
 | Projekt: Passion - Season 2 | $11.99 | 1,005 93% | 30k | $361k (exactly $361,498) | Classy Lemon | |
 | Xenopurge | $12.49 | 419 84% | 13k | $157k (exactly $156,999) | Traptics | |
 | R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos | $49.99 | 94 82% | 2.8k | $141k (exactly $140,972) | Granzella Inc. | |
 | Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite | $5.99 | 698 83% | 21k | $125k (exactly $125,431) | RyanJakob | |
 | Galaxy Princess Zorana | $24.99 | 154 88% | 4.6k | $115k (exactly $115,454) | Hanako Games | |
 | Dead in Antares | $19.99 | 189 77% | 5.7k | $113k (exactly $113,343) | Ishtar Games | |
 | Aquabike Rush | $39.99 | 87 91% | 2.6k | $104k (exactly $104,374) | Aquabike |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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