Games › Automation › Automation + Artificial Intelligence
Should I ship an AI Automation game?
Automation + Artificial Intelligence
Of 54 developers who shipped an AI 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.. 98 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.7k, ×2.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $180k, ×295 the market median. Revenue is up 215% on the market; 98 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.7k (exactly $1,676) |
| Top 25% | $19k (exactly $19,272) |
| Top 5% | $185k (exactly $185,338) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 54 |
| Released games | 129 |
| Announced | 98 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 215% on the market, supply 185% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, 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
- Artificial Intelligence
- 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; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Resource Management, Strategy
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Relaxing, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 12,517 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 98 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Automation with a different setting or mood, 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
SimplePlanes 2015 · $3.8M 
The Farmer Was Replaced 2025 · $2.7M 
Screeps: World 2016 · $1.2M 
Beer Factory 2024 · $803k 
Main Assembly 2021 · $602k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SimplePlanes | older | $12.99 | 9,811 93% | 294k | $3.8M (exactly $3,823,347) | Jundroo, LLC |
| | The Farmer Was Replaced | $9.99 | 9,116 95% | 273k | $2.7M (exactly $2,732,065) | Timon Herzog | |
| | Screeps: World | older | $19.99 | 1,934 86% | 58k | $1.2M (exactly $1,159,820) | Screeps, LLC |
| | Beer Factory | older | $18.99 | 1,410 40% | 42k | $803k (exactly $803,277) | MyceliumGames |
| | Main Assembly | older | $19.99 | 1,004 83% | 30k | $602k (exactly $602,099) | Bad Yolk Games |
 | GLADIABOTS - AI Combat Arena | older | $14.99 | 846 87% | 25k | $380k (exactly $380,446) | GFX47 |
 | Ecosystem | $19.99 | 601 76% | 18k | $360k (exactly $360,420) | Tom Johnson | |
 | GolfTopia | older | $19.99 | 477 95% | 14k | $286k (exactly $286,057) | MinMax Games Ltd. |
 | Crypto Mining Simulator | older | $4.99 | 1,419 65% | 43k | $212k (exactly $212,424) | Satosha Nakamoti |
 | Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency | older | $14.99 | 460 81% | 14k | $207k (exactly $206,862) | Neat Corporation, Fast Travel Games |
 | Industrial Annihilation | · EA | $29.99 | 206 27% | 6.2k | $185k (exactly $185,338) | Galactic Annihilation |
 | Learning Factory | $14.99 | 390 84% | 12k | $175k (exactly $175,383) | Luden.io | |
 | Food Processing Simulator | $12.99 | 304 87% | 9.1k | $118k (exactly $118,469) | Bewolba Studios | |
 | Widget Inc. | $4.99 | 761 84% | 23k | $114k (exactly $113,922) | Leaping Turtle | |
 | Carpet Cleaning Simulator | $6.99 | 508 87% | 15k | $107k (exactly $106,528) | daimaGAME | |
 | Rocky Idle | $9.99 | 308 83% | 9.2k | $92k (exactly $92,308) | Rocky Games Studio | |
 | Blind Box Shop Simulator | $9.99 | 218 87% | 6.5k | $65k (exactly $65,335) | NovaraGames | |
 | Screeps: Arena | $19.99 | 105 82% | 3.2k | $63k (exactly $62,968) | Screeps, LLC |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.