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Should I ship an Arcade Space Sim?
Space Sim + Arcade
Of 62 developers who shipped an Arcade Space Sim 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.. 94 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $210 in the last 2 years and $240 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 36 developers shipped in the last year and 94 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $210 (exactly $210) |
| Top 25% | $839 (exactly $839) |
| Top 5% | $35k (exactly $35,331) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 62 |
| Released games | 274 |
| Announced | 94 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 140% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Space Sim, Arcade; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Simulation, Flight
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $8.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Retro, 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $8.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 1,618 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 94 games are announced against 36 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Space Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DestructionFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + WarFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SportsFair
- + DiplomacyLong shot
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Strategy RPGPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
Comparable games
EVERSPACE™ 2017 · $5.9M 
Rebel Galaxy 2015 · $4.4M 
Chorus 2021 · $2.9M 
Redout 2 2022 · $700k 
Galaxy on Fire 2™ Full HD 2012 · $355k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | EVERSPACE™ | older | $19.99 | 9,809 77% | 294k | $5.9M (exactly $5,882,457) | ROCKFISH Games |
| | Rebel Galaxy | older | $19.99 | 7,255 85% | 218k | $4.4M (exactly $4,350,824) | Double Damage Games |
| | Chorus | older | $24.99 | 3,876 81% | 116k | $2.9M (exactly $2,905,837) | Deep Silver Fishlabs |
| | Redout 2 | older | $19.99 | 1,168 82% | 35k | $700k (exactly $700,450) | 34BigThings srl |
| | Galaxy on Fire 2™ Full HD | older | $7.99 | 1,479 77% | 44k | $355k (exactly $354,516) | Fishlabs Entertainment GmbH |
 | Underspace | · EA older | $19.99 | 434 81% | 13k | $260k (exactly $260,270) | Pastaspace Interactive |
 | Osmos | older | $9.99 | 691 86% | 21k | $207k (exactly $207,093) | Hemisphere Games |
 | Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite | $5.99 | 698 83% | 21k | $125k (exactly $125,431) | RyanJakob | |
 | Space Wars | older | $29.99 | 106 86% | 3.2k | $95k (exactly $95,368) | High and Wide |
 | Star Survivor | $4.99 | 540 67% | 16k | $81k (exactly $80,838) | SpaceOwl Games, Erabit | |
 | Stellar Wanderer DX | $19.99 | 60 71% | 1.8k | $36k (exactly $35,982) | Dream Builder Studios | |
 | Deep Space Exploitation | $8.99 | 131 96% | 3.9k | $35k (exactly $35,331) | JuhrJuhr | |
 | Don't Crash | $4.99 | 68 98% | 2.0k | $10k (exactly $10,180) | Override Studio | |
 | Hotloop | $2.99 | 47 85% | 1.4k | $4.2k (exactly $4,216) | Tntlaxy GDS | |
 | Tentacle Wars | $7.99 | 13 38% | 390 | $3.1k (exactly $3,116) | SlaveOS | |
 | My Idle Space Cruiser | $2.99 | 24 83% | 720 | $2.2k (exactly $2,153) | Minicactus Games | |
 | 5 Minutes Until Self-Destruction | $1.99 | 28 96% | 840 | $1.7k (exactly $1,672) | Part Time Monkey | |
 | Planet Keeper Program | $5.99 | 9 100% | 270 | $1.6k (exactly $1,617) | Robo-Human Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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