Games › Automation › Automation + Colony Sim
Should I ship a Colony Sim Automation game?
Automation + Colony Sim
Of 103 developers who shipped a Colony Sim 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.. 203 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 $13k, ×20 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.2k; 1 in 20 cleared $3.2M, ×5143 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 203 games are announced against 73 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.2k (exactly $2,156) |
|---|---|
| Median | $13k (exactly $12,592) |
| Top 25% | $150k (exactly $149,833) |
| Top 5% | $3.2M (exactly $3,229,708) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 103 |
| Released games | 167 |
| Announced | 203 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $10.99 |
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 down 55% on the market, supply 135% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, 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
- Colony Sim
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation, Colony Sim; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Base Building, Resource Management, Sandbox
- Price point
- $10.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $10.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 96,483 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.2k. 5 in 10 of the 34 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 203 games are announced against 73 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
Timberborn 2026 · $40M 
Soulmask 2026 · $17M 
Captain of Industry 2022 · EA · $12M 
Stationeers 2017 · EA · $9.0M 
ASKA 2024 · EA · $7.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Timberborn | $34.99 | 38,529 95% | 1.2M | $40M (exactly $40,443,891) | Mechanistry | |
| | Soulmask | $29.99 | 18,445 76% | 553k | $17M (exactly $16,594,966) | CampFire Studio | |
| | Captain of Industry | · EA older | $34.99 | 11,027 90% | 331k | $12M (exactly $11,575,042) | MaFi Games |
| | Stationeers | · EA older | $34.99 | 8,597 88% | 258k | $9.0M (exactly $9,024,271) | RocketWerkz |
| | ASKA | · EA older | $24.99 | 10,457 79% | 314k | $7.8M (exactly $7,839,613) | Sand Sailor Studio |
 | StarRupture | · EA | $19.99 | 12,333 80% | 370k | $7.4M (exactly $7,396,100) | Creepy Jar |
 | The Wandering Village | $29.99 | 7,734 91% | 232k | $7.0M (exactly $6,958,280) | Stray Fawn Studio | |
 | Per Aspera | older | $29.99 | 4,105 76% | 123k | $3.7M (exactly $3,693,268) | Tlön Industries |
 | 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 |
 | Plan B: Terraform | $15.99 | 3,526 91% | 106k | $1.7M (exactly $1,691,422) | Gaddy Games | |
 | Eden Crafters | $19.99 | 2,507 85% | 75k | $1.5M (exactly $1,503,448) | Osaris Games | |
 | Astro Colony | $19.99 | 2,397 80% | 72k | $1.4M (exactly $1,437,481) | Terad Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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