Games › Automation › Automation + Crafting
Should I ship a Crafting Automation game?
Automation + Crafting
Of 287 developers who shipped a Crafting 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.. 548 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.0k, ×9.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.7M, ×2781 the market median. Revenue is up 100% on the market; 548 games are announced against 204 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.1k (exactly $1,077) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.0k (exactly $5,988) |
| Top 25% | $72k (exactly $71,780) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,746,326) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 287 |
| Released games | 549 |
| Announced | 548 |
| 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 100% on the market, supply 135% 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
- Crafting
- 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, Crafting; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Base Building, Building
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 792,883 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 7 in 10 of the 103 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 548 games are announced against 204 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 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 |
 | The Planet Crafter | older | $23.99 | 68,855 96% | 2.1M | $50M (exactly $49,554,944) | Miju Games |
 | Soulmask | $29.99 | 18,445 76% | 553k | $17M (exactly $16,594,966) | CampFire Studio | |
 | Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game | · EA older | $29.99 | 16,815 93% | 504k | $15M (exactly $15,128,456) | Camshaft Software Ltd |
 | The Last Caretaker | · EA | $34.99 | 13,178 86% | 395k | $14M (exactly $13,832,947) | Channel37 Ltd |
 | Craftopia | · EA older | $24.99 | 17,705 76% | 531k | $13M (exactly $13,273,438) | Pocketpair |
 | 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 | |
 | StarRupture | · EA | $19.99 | 12,333 80% | 370k | $7.4M (exactly $7,396,100) | Creepy Jar |
 | 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 | |
 | Solarpunk™ | $22.99 | 3,492 81% | 105k | $2.4M (exactly $2,408,432) | Cyberwave |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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