Do I ship it?

GamesAutomationAutomation + Arcade

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Arcade Automation game?

Automation + Arcade

Of 114 developers who shipped an Arcade Automation 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.. 161 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $240. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 161 games are announced against 88 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 80% on the market, 161 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Automation + Arcade
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 114
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $479 → $90 → $1.5k → $718 → $239 → $1.9k → $538 (still earning) → $718 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Automation + Arcade: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 114
Bottom 30% $239 (exactly $239)
Median $718 (exactly $718)
Top 25% $2.7k (exactly $2,695)
Top 5% $52k (exactly $52,395)
Developers, 2 yr 114
Released games 197
Announced 161
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $3.99

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 80% on the market, supply 240% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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.

Automation
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Arcade
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high 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
Automation, Arcade; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Incremental, Idler, Simulation
Price point
$3.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.

The top 10 games average 85% positive over 5,926 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $720, 1 in 4 over $2.6k, 1 in 20 over $52k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 35 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 161 games are announced against 88 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Automation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Job SimulatorStrong odds36 devs · median $57k · 31 announced
  2. + Female ProtagonistStrong odds27 devs · median $4.5k · 32 announced
  3. + Open World Survival CraftFair28 devs · median $307k · 37 announced
  4. + HorrorFair19 devs · median $8.0k · 29 announced
  5. + HistoricalFair26 devs · median $7.9k · 24 announced
  6. + UndergroundFair20 devs · median $7.4k · 32 announced
  7. + Class-BasedFair19 devs · median $6.6k · 22 announced
  8. + MiningFair105 devs · median $4.9k · 164 announced
  9. + Auto BattlerFair112 devs · median $4.5k · 153 announced
  10. + ProgrammingFair84 devs · median $3.8k · 102 announced
  11. + FishingFair40 devs · median $3.4k · 46 announced
  12. + Turn-Based TacticsFair28 devs · median $2.9k · 36 announced

All 135 pairs on the Automation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
KartKraft™ older $24.99 2,987 73% 90k $2.2M (exactly $2,239,354) Motorsport Games
Last Call BBS older $19.99 1,220 94% 37k $732k (exactly $731,634) Zachtronics
Cavalry Girls older $11.99 1,877 88% 56k $675k (exactly $675,157) 中子星游戏研究所
Wreckreation $39.99 360 63% 11k $432k (exactly $431,892) Three Fields Entertainment
Incredicer $2.99 2,408 85% 72k $216k (exactly $215,998) pochi
Crypto Mining Simulator older $4.99 1,419 65% 43k $212k (exactly $212,424) Satosha Nakamoti
Tower Networking Inc. · EA $19.99 317 95% 9.5k $190k (exactly $190,105) Pocosia Studios
Rush Rally Origins older $14.99 306 95% 9.2k $138k (exactly $137,608) Brownmonster Limited
Slots & Diapers $6.99 539 88% 16k $113k (exactly $113,028) Parodie Games
Dice People $2.99 719 90% 22k $64k (exactly $64,494) Mateusk2m, Manodeix
Garbage Growth $4.99 350 91% 11k $52k (exactly $52,395) apepatrickdev
Profit Sea Incremental $4.99 327 79% 9.8k $49k (exactly $48,952) Monkey Cube
Artillery Miner $7.99 193 73% 5.8k $46k (exactly $46,262) Alextgr8
Orbitmine $2.99 504 82% 15k $45k (exactly $45,209) vibemaker1
PROFITS 2167: Planetary Resource Optimization & Freight Infrastructure Technician Simulator · EA $6.99 209 98% 6.3k $44k (exactly $43,827) Simple Software Solutions

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