Games › Auto Battler › Auto Battler + Incremental
Should I ship an Incremental Auto Battler?
Auto Battler + Incremental
Of 158 developers who shipped an Incremental Auto Battler 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.. 266 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.6 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $250k, ×536 the market median. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 266 games are announced against 129 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $594 (exactly $594) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,258) |
| Top 25% | $9.6k (exactly $9,590) |
| Top 5% | $255k (exactly $254,640) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 158 |
| Released games | 309 |
| Announced | 266 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 80% on the market, supply 280% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 23%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Auto Battler
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Auto Battler, Incremental; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, Strategy, RPG
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 16,105 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 42 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 266 games are announced against 129 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Auto Battler with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Action RTSFair
- + SimulationFair
- + EconomyFair
- + SandboxFair
- + CyberpunkFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + CatsFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + SwordplayFair
Comparable games
Dragon Cliff 2018 · $2.3M 
Cauldron 2025 · $755k 
Horripilant 2026 · $702k 
Path of Idle: Old Gods Rising 2026 · $348k 
Q-UP 2025 · $337k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dragon Cliff | older | $9.99 | 7,679 88% | 230k | $2.3M (exactly $2,301,396) | Meta Interaction |
| | Cauldron | $14.99 | 1,678 92% | 50k | $755k (exactly $754,597) | SleepyDad Games | |
| | Horripilant | $7.99 | 2,928 92% | 88k | $702k (exactly $701,842) | Alexandre Declos , Pas Game Studio | |
| | Path of Idle: Old Gods Rising | $9.99 | 1,160 77% | 35k | $348k (exactly $347,652) | Small Mill, Small Mill | |
| | Q-UP | $9.99 | 1,126 93% | 34k | $337k (exactly $337,462) | Everybody House Games | |
 | Master Healer Kale with useless party | $4.99 | 1,879 95% | 56k | $281k (exactly $281,286) | Evrac Studio | |
 | Desktop Defender | $4.99 | 1,757 92% | 53k | $263k (exactly $263,023) | Conradical Games | |
 | Nomad Idle | $9.99 | 852 64% | 26k | $255k (exactly $255,344) | The Fox Knocks | |
 | Loot Loop | $4.99 | 1,701 93% | 51k | $255k (exactly $254,640) | BitBrew | |
 | Zero Stress King: Idle Defense | $4.99 | 1,679 87% | 50k | $251k (exactly $251,346) | Pauloondra | |
 | Maktala: Slime Lootfest | $4.99 | 1,345 79% | 40k | $201k (exactly $201,346) | Samharia Studios |
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.