Games › Automation › Automation + Building
Should I ship a Building Automation game?
Automation + Building
Of 353 developers who shipped a Building 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.. 668 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $11k, ×17 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.8k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×2675 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 668 games are announced against 237 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.7k (exactly $1,740) |
|---|---|
| Median | $11k (exactly $10,912) |
| Top 25% | $99k (exactly $98,601) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,679,740) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 353 |
| Released games | 701 |
| Announced | 668 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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: 9%, 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
- Building
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation, Building; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Resource Management, Sandbox
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 805,301 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.8k. 6 in 10 of the 129 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 668 games are announced against 237 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
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
Palworld 2026 · $371M 
Satisfactory 2024 · $282M 
Factorio 2020 · $201M 
Schedule I 2025 · EA · $173M 
ASTRONEER 2019 · $107M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Palworld | $29.99 | 411,947 94% | 12M | $371M (exactly $370,628,716) | Pocketpair | |
| | Satisfactory | older | $39.99 | 234,993 97% | 7.0M | $282M (exactly $281,921,102) | Coffee Stain Studios |
| | Factorio | older | $35.00 | 191,814 97% | 5.8M | $201M (exactly $201,404,700) | Wube Software LTD. |
| | Schedule I | · EA | $19.99 | 288,939 97% | 8.7M | $173M (exactly $173,276,718) | TVGS |
| | ASTRONEER | older | $29.99 | 118,844 91% | 3.6M | $107M (exactly $106,923,947) | System Era Softworks |
 | Dyson Sphere Program | · EA older | $19.99 | 83,523 97% | 2.5M | $50M (exactly $50,088,743) | Youthcat Studio |
 | The Planet Crafter | older | $23.99 | 68,855 96% | 2.1M | $50M (exactly $49,554,944) | Miju Games |
 | Stormworks: Build and Rescue | older | $24.99 | 54,649 90% | 1.6M | $41M (exactly $40,970,355) | Geometa |
 | Timberborn | $34.99 | 38,529 95% | 1.2M | $40M (exactly $40,443,891) | Mechanistry | |
 | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
 | shapez 2 - Factory | $29.99 | 13,846 96% | 415k | $12M (exactly $12,457,246) | tobspr Games | |
 | Necesse | $14.99 | 24,425 93% | 733k | $11M (exactly $10,983,922) | Fair Games ApS | |
 | The Crust | $31.99 | 3,502 76% | 105k | $3.4M (exactly $3,360,869) | VEOM Studio | |
 | Flotsam | $24.99 | 4,308 80% | 129k | $3.2M (exactly $3,229,708) | Pajama Llama Games | |
 | Pax Autocratica | · EA | $29.99 | 3,202 91% | 96k | $2.9M (exactly $2,880,839) | Multiverse |
 | Techtonica | $29.99 | 3,076 64% | 92k | $2.8M (exactly $2,767,477) | Fire Hose Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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