Do I ship it?

Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Arcade

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Time Manipulation Arcade game?

Time Manipulation + Arcade

Of 57 developers who shipped a Time Manipulation Arcade 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.. 77 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $270 in the last 2 years and $270 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 4 / 10 build. 31 developers shipped in the last year and 77 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 65% on the market, 77 announced, ×2.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Time Manipulation + Arcade
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 57
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $179 → $2.1k → $267 → $3.7k → $210 → $449 → $479 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Time Manipulation + Arcade: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 57
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $269 (exactly $269)
Top 25% $2.7k (exactly $2,697)
Top 5% $17k (exactly $17,498)
Developers, 2 yr 57
Released games 160
Announced 77
Effort 4 / 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 down 65% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, 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.

Time Manipulation
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
Time Manipulation, Arcade; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Bullet Hell, Action Roguelike
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 89% positive over 881 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $90, median $270, 1 in 4 over $2.6k, 1 in 20 over $17k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 30 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 77 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + DemonsFair14 devs · median $2.7k · 9 announced
  2. + CapitalismFair9 devs · median $1.8k · 14 announced
  3. + ModernFair12 devs · median $987 · 9 announced
  4. + PsychologicalFair18 devs · median $897 · 17 announced
  5. + CollectathonFair10 devs · median $657 · 15 announced
  6. + RacingFair10 devs · median $599 · 12 announced
  7. + Precision PlatformerFair22 devs · median $598 · 20 announced
  8. + Choose Your Own AdventurePoor odds9 devs · median $13k · 24 announced
  9. + RobotsPoor odds12 devs · median $11k · 16 announced
  10. + Post-apocalypticPoor odds7 devs · median $6.7k · 22 announced
  11. + DetectivePoor odds16 devs · median $6.5k · 32 announced
  12. + NoirPoor odds9 devs · median $6.5k · 15 announced

All 103 pairs on the Time Manipulation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Wanderer 2022 · $989k Arizona Derby 2019 · $342k Super Time Force Ultra 2014 · $304k Advent NEON® 2025 · $180k Sine Mora EX 2017 · $139k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Wanderer older $39.99 824 83% 25k $989k (exactly $988,553) Mighty Eyes
Arizona Derby older $18.99 601 77% 18k $342k (exactly $342,390) Falcon Interactive
Super Time Force Ultra older $14.99 677 90% 20k $304k (exactly $304,447) Capybara Games
Advent NEON® $19.99 300 98% 9.0k $180k (exactly $179,910) CryoGX
Sine Mora EX older $9.99 463 66% 14k $139k (exactly $138,761) Digital Reality, Grasshopper Manufactur… (Digital Reality, Grasshopper Manufacture, Gyroscope Games)
Soundodger 2 older $19.99 185 95% 5.6k $111k (exactly $110,944) Studio Bean
Maze Mice $9.99 315 88% 9.5k $94k (exactly $94,406) TrampolineTales
Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever older $19.99 62 83% 1.9k $37k (exactly $37,181) XR Games
Blast-off older $2.99 379 86% 11k $34k (exactly $33,996) Quad-Games
Wanted Killer VR · EA older $9.99 107 78% 3.2k $32k (exactly $32,068) Playsnak
Bauhaus Bonk $7.99 73 100% 2.2k $17k (exactly $17,498) Spoonful Games
COLD VR $19.99 28 60% 840 $17k (exactly $16,792) ALLWARE LLC
Moon Watch · EA $9.99 56 57% 1.7k $17k (exactly $16,783) Jaspel
Time Hacker $14.99 24 70% 720 $11k (exactly $10,793) Joy Way
Duck Paradox $9.99 19 100% 570 $5.7k (exactly $5,694) Magic Games
AIRANBLADE $8.99 17 94% 510 $4.6k (exactly $4,585) ANIMABOX
Arcade Empire Tycoon $4.99 25 68% 750 $3.7k (exactly $3,742) Mind Inside Games
miniquest $4.99 24 100% 720 $3.6k (exactly $3,593) Dennis Gallant

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