Games › Incremental › Incremental + Artificial Intelligence
Should I ship an AI Incremental game?
Incremental + Artificial Intelligence
Of 112 developers who shipped an AI Incremental 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.. 60 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×3.2 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is up 375% on the market; 60 games are announced against 83 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,938) |
| Top 5% | $223k (exactly $223,053) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 112 |
| Released games | 256 |
| Announced | 60 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 up 375% on the market, supply 150% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
- Artificial Intelligence
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Incremental; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Idler, Resource Management
- Price point
- $2.99 typical · top 25% priced $7.50 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $7.50 or above; the middle game at $2.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 14,541 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 55 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 60 games are announced against 83 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Incremental with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + OtomeStrong odds
- + Martial ArtsFair
- + FarmingFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + MiningFair
- + Souls-likeFair
- + Arena ShooterFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + LootFair
- + SupernaturalFair
Comparable games
Nodebuster 2024 · $1.2M 
Supermarket Chaos 2026 · $489k 
恋爱吗？我家猫会后空翻 2025 · $452k 
Click and Conquer 2025 · $366k 
FACEMINER 2025 · $364k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Nodebuster | older | $2.99 | 13,852 97% | 416k | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,524) | Goblobin |
| | Supermarket Chaos | $4.99 | 3,266 92% | 98k | $489k (exactly $488,920) | BunnyHop | |
| | 恋爱吗？我家猫会后空翻 | $9.99 | 1,508 96% | 45k | $452k (exactly $451,948) | 光循花火工作室 | |
| | Click and Conquer | $4.99 | 2,442 92% | 73k | $366k (exactly $365,567) | SOCKHOUSE STUDIOS | |
| | FACEMINER | $7.99 | 1,517 90% | 46k | $364k (exactly $363,625) | Wristwork | |
 | Sort Them Ducks | $5.99 | 1,461 92% | 44k | $263k (exactly $262,542) | Mr.Duck | |
 | Timber Rush | $4.99 | 1,490 84% | 45k | $223k (exactly $223,053) | Allerton Apps | |
 | Hymer 2000 | $4.99 | 1,031 89% | 31k | $154k (exactly $154,341) | doBell | |
 | 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 | |
 | FEED THE AI | $5.99 | 557 90% | 17k | $100k (exactly $100,093) | Weird Kid Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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