Do I ship it?

GamesAutomationAutomation + Deckbuilding

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Deckbuilding Automation game?

Automation + Deckbuilding

Of 44 developers who shipped a Deckbuilding 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.. 51 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.8k, ×4.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $450. Revenue is up 85% on the market; 51 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.4 times the market baseline, revenue up 85% on the market, 51 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Automation + Deckbuilding
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 44
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.2k → $55k → $2.7k → $22k → $6.5k (still earning) → $449 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Automation + Deckbuilding: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 44
Bottom 30% $450 (exactly $450)
Median $2.8k (exactly $2,753)
Top 25% $34k (exactly $34,183)
Top 5% $284k (exactly $284,462)
Developers, 2 yr 44
Released games 63
Announced 51
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $6.99

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 85% on the market, supply 95% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Deckbuilding
effort 3 / 10 · high · card pools and run logic

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Automation, Deckbuilding; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Auto Battler, Roguelike, Roguelite
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 2D, Cartoon
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 88% positive over 13,486 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $450, median $2.8k, 1 in 4 over $34k, 1 in 20 over $280k.

3 in 10 developers made under $450. 7 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 51 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Automation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Job SimulatorStrong odds36 devs · median $57k · 31 announced
  2. + Female ProtagonistStrong odds27 devs · median $4.5k · 32 announced
  3. + Open World Survival CraftFair28 devs · median $307k · 37 announced
  4. + HorrorFair19 devs · median $8.0k · 29 announced
  5. + HistoricalFair26 devs · median $7.9k · 24 announced
  6. + UndergroundFair20 devs · median $7.4k · 32 announced
  7. + Class-BasedFair19 devs · median $6.6k · 22 announced
  8. + MiningFair105 devs · median $4.9k · 164 announced
  9. + Auto BattlerFair112 devs · median $4.5k · 153 announced
  10. + ProgrammingFair84 devs · median $3.8k · 102 announced
  11. + FishingFair40 devs · median $3.4k · 46 announced
  12. + Turn-Based TacticsFair28 devs · median $2.9k · 36 announced

All 135 pairs on the Automation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
The King is Watching $14.99 9,006 88% 270k $4.0M (exactly $4,049,998) Hypnohead
ShapeHero Factory $23.99 991 88% 30k $713k (exactly $713,223) Asobism.Co.,Ltd
Rogue Voltage $15.99 593 92% 18k $284k (exactly $284,462) Horizont Computergrafik
Batomon Showdown $14.99 327 87% 9.8k $147k (exactly $147,052) berrymint
Bioweaver $6.99 668 77% 20k $140k (exactly $140,080) Emprom Game, Wild Kid Games
Kitchen Crisis older $14.99 311 74% 9.3k $140k (exactly $139,857) Team Samoyed
Wireworks $6.99 614 89% 18k $129k (exactly $128,756) JJJ
Fhtagn Simulator older $7.99 535 89% 16k $128k (exactly $128,240) 锁眼工作室
Grail $9.99 345 89% 10k $103k (exactly $103,396) Sokpop Collective
Arcane Trigger $8.99 363 85% 11k $98k (exactly $97,901) MiniWhale
Lucky Hunter $5.99 413 89% 12k $74k (exactly $74,216) 159 Studio
SuperTaxCity $9.99 166 89% 5.0k $50k (exactly $49,750) soramame-koubou

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.