Games › Automation › Automation + Arcade
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.
| 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.
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
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
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.
What kills games here
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.
Adjacent niches
Automation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + Female ProtagonistStrong odds
- + Open World Survival CraftFair
- + HorrorFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + Class-BasedFair
- + MiningFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + FishingFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
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.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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