Games › Automation › Automation + Board Game
Should I ship a Board Game Automation game?
Automation + Board Game
Of 21 developers who shipped a Board Game 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.. 12 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $600, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $180. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 12 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $600 (exactly $600) |
| Top 25% | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
| Top 5% | $74k (exactly $74,216) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 21 |
| Released games | 30 |
| Announced | 12 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Board Game
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation, Board Game; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Resource Management, Strategy, Idler
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cartoony, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 1,107 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 12 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Automation with a different second tag, 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
Console Shop Simulator 2025 · EA · $248k 
A=B 2022 · $136k 
Lucky Hunter 2024 · $74k 
Automatic Kingdom 2026 · $11k 
The Board is Yours 2026 · $2.9k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Console Shop Simulator | · EA | $15.99 | 516 92% | 15k | $248k (exactly $247,525) | Lance Games |
| | A=B | older | $4.99 | 908 94% | 27k | $136k (exactly $135,928) | Artless Games |
| | Lucky Hunter | $5.99 | 413 89% | 12k | $74k (exactly $74,216) | 159 Studio | |
| | Automatic Kingdom | $12.99 | 28 75% | 840 | $11k (exactly $10,912) | Matthew Pontarolo | |
| | The Board is Yours | $2.50 | 38 97% | 1.1k | $2.9k (exactly $2,850) | Draelent | |
 | Ocean Cleaner Idle | $2.99 | 28 57% | 840 | $2.5k (exactly $2,512) | Watt a Day Games | |
 | Simple CEO | older | $3.99 | 17 64% | 510 | $2.0k (exactly $2,035) | Madowl Games |
 | CELESTIAL: FIRE & FORGE | $4.99 | 12 41% | 360 | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) | ERA Soft Studio | |
 | FLOWORKS | · EA | $7.99 | 7 71% | 210 | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) | QUENCH FORGE |
 | Gold Rush Clicker | older | $1.99 | 26 53% | 780 | $1.6k (exactly $1,552) | Boogygames Studios |
 | MEMOLOGY: War of Memes | $0.99 | 52 76% | 1.6k | $1.5k (exactly $1,544) | Piece Of Voxel, Gamesforfarm, hannibaln… (Piece Of Voxel, Gamesforfarm, hannibalnotdead) | |
 | Port Shipping Tycoon | $4.99 | 5 0% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | Urban Isotope | |
 | ScreenSaver Battle | $2.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $718 (exactly $718) | MFC STUDIO, KOSEI YASUDA |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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