Do I ship it?

Games › Political Sim › Political Sim + Arcade

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Arcade Political Sim?

Political Sim + Arcade

Only 10 developers shipped an Arcade Political Sim in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, DRUMP SIMULATOR, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 7 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.

Only 3 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $0 against a market of $480. 7 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 80% on the market, 7 announced, ×2.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Political Sim + Arcade
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 10
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $299 → $90 → $60
Outcomes for Political Sim + Arcade: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 10
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $0 (exactly $0)
Top 25% $90 (exactly $90)
Top 5% $1.0k (exactly $1,015)
Developers, 2 yr 10
Released games 38
Announced 7
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $2.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 55% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.

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Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

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

Political Sim
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 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
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Political Sim, Arcade
Price point
$2.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 4 games average 96% positive over 23 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 $0, 1 in 4 over $90, 1 in 20 over $1.0k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 7 games are announced against 3 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + DetectiveFair10 devs · median $9.9k · 15 announced
  2. + Psychological HorrorFair10 devs · median $4.8k · 16 announced
  3. + IdlerFair20 devs · median $1.2k · 14 announced
  4. + IncrementalFair17 devs · median $832 · 16 announced
  5. + Board GameFair18 devs · median $600 · 13 announced
  6. + TabletopFair12 devs · median $600 · 12 announced
  7. + CombatPoor odds14 devs · median $49k · 22 announced
  8. + Sci-fiPoor odds24 devs · median $17k · 33 announced
  9. + FuturisticPoor odds16 devs · median $15k · 27 announced
  10. + 4XPoor odds29 devs · median $12k · 50 announced
  11. + Cold WarPoor odds15 devs · median $9.9k · 23 announced
  12. + BuildingPoor odds37 devs · median $9.6k · 83 announced

All 72 pairs on the Political Sim page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Among Ass 2020 · $57k World of Fate 2022 · EA · $54k Countryballs: Modern Ballfare 2023 · $32k Social Justice Warriors 2015 · $24k Election Year Knockout 2020 · $24k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Among Ass older $4.99 378 80% 11k $57k (exactly $56,587) Volens Nolens Games
World of Fate · EA older $9.99 179 45% 5.4k $54k (exactly $53,646) Nik's Games
Countryballs: Modern Ballfare older $4.99 217 94% 6.5k $32k (exactly $32,485) Mildly Professional
Social Justice Warriors older $7.99 100 50% 3.0k $24k (exactly $23,970) Nonadecimal Creative
Election Year Knockout older $9.99 79 88% 2.4k $24k (exactly $23,676) ExceptioNULL Games
My Friend Stalin older $0.99 452 90% 14k $13k (exactly $13,424) Boom Team
Konkwest older $8.99 35 94% 1.1k $9.4k (exactly $9,440) Vincent Creative Technologies
GOOOAL older $2.99 92 88% 2.8k $8.3k (exactly $8,252) SmoochGM
Escape From Russia: Mobilization older $0.99 230 85% 6.9k $6.8k (exactly $6,831) GosDev Production
Is This Gay? older $2.99 33 90% 990 $3.0k (exactly $2,960) nikkihaleyowo
DRUMP SIMULATOR $1.99 17 100% 510 $1.0k (exactly $1,015) Make Games Great Again
Elon Musk Saves Britain $0.99 4 75% 120 $119 (exactly $119) Julian Henley
President Race $2.99 1 100% 30 $90 (exactly $90) WolffWare, BuffGames
Panama Canal Clash $1.99 1 100% 30 $60 (exactly $60) Gamesforgames
Meow World Order $3.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Spiritual Opium
Veil Play $0.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Kim Jeong Woo, Moon Ji Han, Park Kwan Y… (Kim Jeong Woo, Moon Ji Han, Park Kwan Young, Character Design - Kang Da Young)
Game the Vote 2024 Red Edition $2.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Aaron McCray
Orbital Checkpoint $4.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) VitalGrid Games
PixelRulers $4.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Soulful Workshop
T*RIFF U!! $3.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) drill

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