Games › Automation › Automation + Choices Matter
Should I ship a Choices Matter Automation game?
Automation + Choices Matter
Of 64 developers who shipped a Choices Matter 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.. 124 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $330; 1 in 20 cleared $270k, ×431 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 124 games are announced against 42 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $330 (exactly $330) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,317) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $15,588) |
| Top 5% | $271k (exactly $270,723) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 64 |
| Released games | 111 |
| Announced | 124 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.00 |
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 30% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, 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
- Choices Matter
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation, Choices Matter; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Management, Resource Management
- Price point
- $5.00 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 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 $17.99 or above; the middle game at $5.00.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 10,267 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $330. 8 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 124 games are announced against 42 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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
The Crust 2026 · $3.4M 
Parcel Simulator 2025 · $1.5M 
Potion Tycoon 2024 · $377k 
GolfTopia 2021 · $286k 
All Hail the Orb 2026 · $271k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Crust | $31.99 | 3,502 76% | 105k | $3.4M (exactly $3,360,869) | VEOM Studio | |
| | Parcel Simulator | $17.99 | 2,804 93% | 84k | $1.5M (exactly $1,513,319) | Dansan Digital | |
| | Potion Tycoon | $19.99 | 629 71% | 19k | $377k (exactly $377,211) | Snowhound Games | |
| | GolfTopia | older | $19.99 | 477 95% | 14k | $286k (exactly $286,057) | MinMax Games Ltd. |
| | All Hail the Orb | $6.99 | 1,291 93% | 39k | $271k (exactly $270,723) | LeGingerDev | |
 | Recipe for Disaster | older | $14.99 | 591 69% | 18k | $266k (exactly $265,773) | Dapper Penguin Studios |
 | Auto Rogue | $6.99 | 719 91% | 22k | $151k (exactly $150,774) | 定期的な宝物 | |
 | Carpet Cleaning Simulator | $6.99 | 508 87% | 15k | $107k (exactly $106,528) | daimaGAME | |
 | Moonshine Inc. | older | $19.99 | 177 61% | 5.3k | $106k (exactly $106,147) | Klabater |
 | Keep Keepers | $17.99 | 135 87% | 4.1k | $73k (exactly $72,860) | Thunderrock Innovations | |
 | Garbage Growth | $4.99 | 350 91% | 11k | $52k (exactly $52,395) | apepatrickdev | |
 | SuperTaxCity | $9.99 | 166 89% | 5.0k | $50k (exactly $49,750) | soramame-koubou | |
 | Rogue Factory | $9.99 | 163 71% | 4.9k | $49k (exactly $48,851) | curried_functor, ecaroh |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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