Games › Automation › Automation + Cooking
Should I ship a Cooking Automation game?
Automation + Cooking
Of 39 developers who shipped a Cooking 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.. 86 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 $2.9k, ×4.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $420k, ×680 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 86 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $478 (exactly $478) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,873) |
| Top 25% | $23k (exactly $23,079) |
| Top 5% | $427k (exactly $426,765) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 39 |
| Released games | 68 |
| Announced | 86 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 35% on the market, supply 190% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, 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
- Cooking
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation, Cooking; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Simulation, Crafting
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 4,245 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 86 games are announced against 29 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
Alaska Gold Fever 2026 · $489k 
OxyRail 2026 · EA · $427k 
Farm to Table 2026 · EA · $290k 
Recipe for Disaster 2022 · $266k 
Automachef 2019 · $235k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Alaska Gold Fever | $16.99 | 959 79% | 29k | $489k (exactly $488,802) | Baked Games | |
| | OxyRail | · EA | $14.99 | 949 80% | 28k | $427k (exactly $426,765) | OxygenTech Limited |
| | Farm to Table | · EA | $14.99 | 645 91% | 19k | $290k (exactly $290,056) | indieGiant |
| | Recipe for Disaster | older | $14.99 | 591 69% | 18k | $266k (exactly $265,773) | Dapper Penguin Studios |
| | Automachef | older | $14.99 | 522 75% | 16k | $235k (exactly $234,743) | Rhombico Games |
 | Pizza House Simulator🍕 | $12.99 | 411 87% | 12k | $160k (exactly $160,167) | Broken Lyre Entertainment, Wendigo Games | |
 | Bone's Cafe | older | $14.99 | 340 96% | 10k | $153k (exactly $152,898) | Acute Owl Studio |
 | Not Monday Cafe | $8.99 | 539 94% | 16k | $145k (exactly $145,368) | Sunny Syrup Studio | |
 | Kitchen Crisis | older | $14.99 | 311 74% | 9.3k | $140k (exactly $139,857) | Team Samoyed |
 | Moonshine Inc. | older | $19.99 | 177 61% | 5.3k | $106k (exactly $106,147) | Klabater |
 | Kentum | $17.99 | 172 75% | 5.2k | $93k (exactly $92,828) | Tlön Industries | |
 | My Little Cafe Nightmare | $8.99 | 210 90% | 6.3k | $57k (exactly $56,637) | SethMadDev | |
 | Snacktorio | $7.99 | 215 90% | 6.5k | $52k (exactly $51,536) | ellraiser | |
 | Node Farm | $11.99 | 75 81% | 2.3k | $27k (exactly $26,978) | ByerN | |
 | Faun Town | $10.99 | 70 68% | 2.1k | $23k (exactly $23,079) | 游乐坊 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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