Do I ship it?

Games › Automation › Automation + Dystopian

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Dystopian Automation game?

Automation + Dystopian

Of 24 developers who shipped a Dystopian 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.. 38 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×1.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $720. Revenue is up 45% on the market; 38 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 45% on the market, 38 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Automation + Dystopian
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 24
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $29k → $8.0k → $898 (still earning) → $3.2k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Automation + Dystopian: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 24
Bottom 30% $719 (exactly $719)
Median $1.2k (exactly $1,197)
Top 25% $8.2k (exactly $8,234)
Top 5% $57k (exactly $56,833)
Developers, 2 yr 24
Released games 47
Announced 38
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 45% on the market, supply 600% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, 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
Dystopian
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

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; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Crafting, Idler
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, First-Person
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 83% positive over 1,341 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $720, median $1.2k, 1 in 4 over $8.2k, 1 in 20 over $56k.

3 in 10 developers made under $720. All of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 38 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Automation with a different setting or mood, 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

Cavalry Girls 2023 · $675k The Signal State 2021 · $389k JUNKPUNK 2021 · EA · $307k No Creeps Were Harmed TD 2024 · $281k Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency 2019 · $207k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Cavalry Girls older $11.99 1,877 88% 56k $675k (exactly $675,157) 中子星游戏研究所
The Signal State older $19.99 649 86% 19k $389k (exactly $389,205) Reckoner Industries
JUNKPUNK · EA older $15.99 641 60% 19k $307k (exactly $307,488) SCT
No Creeps Were Harmed TD older $19.99 468 88% 14k $281k (exactly $280,660) MinMax Games Ltd.
Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency older $14.99 460 81% 14k $207k (exactly $206,862) Neat Corporation, Fast Travel Games
[ECHOSTASIS] older $19.99 215 90% 6.5k $129k (exactly $128,935) ENIGMA STUDIO
Execute $5.99 679 91% 20k $122k (exactly $122,016) Payne Robinson
Chipmatic $11.99 158 65% 4.7k $57k (exactly $56,833) Molter
Legitimate Space Corp Simulator LLC $12.99 82 69% 2.5k $32k (exactly $31,955) VHornet Games
Femdemic - An Idle World Feminization Game older $14.99 64 53% 1.9k $29k (exactly $28,781) Rel.Pink
UNHUMAN $3.99 161 73% 4.8k $19k (exactly $19,272) Kinda Lowkey Games
Paperwork $3.99 92 95% 2.8k $11k (exactly $11,012) Broken Record Studio
AI Faith: Compute [>_AIFC] $4.99 55 81% 1.7k $8.2k (exactly $8,234) Beneloop.ai
DOLL INC · EA $6.99 38 65% 1.1k $8.0k (exactly $7,969) David Gallardo
Neofeud 2 $14.99 16 93% 480 $7.2k (exactly $7,195) Silver Spook Games
Watt's the Limit? $4.99 40 80% 1.2k $6.0k (exactly $5,988) Tobo Games
Company is watching $6.99 20 100% 600 $4.2k (exactly $4,194) Wyyne

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