Do I ship it?

Games › Auto Battler › Auto Battler + Space

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Space Auto Battler?

Auto Battler + Space

Of 44 developers who shipped a Space 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.. 54 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $480. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 54 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 10% on the market, 54 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Auto Battler + Space
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 44
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.8k → $2.2k → $1.3k → $719 (still earning) → $1.5k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Auto Battler + Space: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 44
Bottom 30% $479 (exactly $479)
Median $1.0k (exactly $1,048)
Top 25% $6.7k (exactly $6,736)
Top 5% $176k (exactly $175,924)
Developers, 2 yr 44
Released games 78
Announced 54
Effort 5 / 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 10% on the market, supply 95% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 17%, 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.

Auto Battler
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
Space
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Auto Battler; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Tactical, Combat
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 2,783 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $480, median $1.0k, 1 in 4 over $6.7k, 1 in 20 over $170k.

3 in 10 developers made under $480. 7 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 54 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Auto Battler with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + ProgrammingFair14 devs · median $14k · 14 announced
  2. + Mystery DungeonFair17 devs · median $13k · 16 announced
  3. + AutomationFair112 devs · median $4.5k · 153 announced
  4. + Action RTSFair24 devs · median $3.0k · 28 announced
  5. + SimulationFair219 devs · median $2.5k · 293 announced
  6. + EconomyFair59 devs · median $2.4k · 79 announced
  7. + SandboxFair45 devs · median $1.9k · 42 announced
  8. + CyberpunkFair20 devs · median $1.7k · 25 announced
  9. + Artificial IntelligenceFair23 devs · median $1.6k · 28 announced
  10. + CatsFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 14 announced
  11. + ArcadeFair78 devs · median $1.1k · 93 announced
  12. + SwordplayFair13 devs · median $1.1k · 8 announced

All 119 pairs on the Auto Battler page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Down with the Ship 2026 · EA · $367k Annihilate The Spance 2025 · EA · $312k Gratuitous Space Battles 2009 · $255k Nonentity Galaxy 2026 · $176k Xenopurge 2025 · $157k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Down with the Ship · EA $14.99 817 93% 25k $367k (exactly $367,405) Iron Anchor Games
Annihilate The Spance · EA $29.99 347 90% 10k $312k (exactly $312,196) Skyglow Softworks
Gratuitous Space Battles older $14.99 568 72% 17k $255k (exactly $255,430) Positech Games
Nonentity Galaxy $9.99 587 94% 18k $176k (exactly $175,924) Brick-Up Studio
Xenopurge $12.49 419 84% 13k $157k (exactly $156,999) Traptics
Holder of Place $9.99 288 90% 8.6k $86k (exactly $86,314) Ardent Fields
Swarm Queen older $7.49 384 94% 12k $86k (exactly $86,285) Helmi Bastami (Flyborg.net)
Lazy Galaxy 2 older $7.99 167 77% 5.0k $40k (exactly $40,030) Coldwild Games
Flaregate Network $14.99 58 77% 1.7k $26k (exactly $26,083) Keycard Studio, LLC
NebuLeet $15.99 53 90% 1.6k $25k (exactly $25,424) quasilyte
Inventorix $4.99 131 100% 3.9k $20k (exactly $19,611) Arcaludi
Echoes of the Architects $9.99 46 80% 1.4k $14k (exactly $13,786) GFX47
Cheese Moon $7.99 37 94% 1.1k $8.9k (exactly $8,869) Studio SOTT

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