Games › Automation › Automation + Farming
Should I ship a Farming Automation game?
Automation + Farming
Of 31 developers who shipped a Farming 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.. 31 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.5k, ×10 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.4k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.4M, ×3835 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 31 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.5k (exactly $6,501) |
| Top 25% | $38k (exactly $38,376) |
| Top 5% | $2.4M (exactly $2,408,432) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 31 |
| Released games | 40 |
| Announced | 31 |
| 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 down 35% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, 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
- Farming
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Sandbox, Simulation
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $22.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $22.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 17,533 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.4k. 8 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 31 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Automation with a different setting or mood, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Rusty's Retirement | older | $6.99 | 13,902 96% | 417k | $2.9M (exactly $2,915,249) | Mister Morris Games |
| | Rise of Industry | older | $29.99 | 3,122 74% | 94k | $2.8M (exactly $2,808,863) | Dapper Penguin Studios |
| | The Farmer Was Replaced | $9.99 | 9,116 95% | 273k | $2.7M (exactly $2,732,065) | Timon Herzog | |
| | Solarpunk™ | $22.99 | 3,492 81% | 105k | $2.4M (exactly $2,408,432) | Cyberwave | |
| | Go-Go Town! | $27.99 | 2,476 93% | 74k | $2.1M (exactly $2,079,097) | Prideful Sloth | |
| | Farming & Supermarket Simulator | $11.99 | 835 79% | 25k | $300k (exactly $300,350) | EY08 Games | |
| | Mini Settlers | $12.99 | 592 85% | 18k | $231k (exactly $230,702) | Knight Owl Games | |
| | Plantera 2: Golden Acorn | older | $4.99 | 1,191 93% | 36k | $178k (exactly $178,293) | VaragtP |
| | GeoDepths | older | $16.99 | 294 87% | 8.8k | $150k (exactly $149,852) | A Little More Games |
| | MR FARMBOY | $9.99 | 480 85% | 14k | $144k (exactly $143,856) | mrdboy | |
| | Rocky Idle | $9.99 | 308 83% | 9.2k | $92k (exactly $92,308) | Rocky Games Studio | |
| | Elsewhere | · EA | $15.99 | 80 96% | 2.4k | $38k (exactly $38,376) | Four White Cats |
| | Node Farm | $11.99 | 75 81% | 2.3k | $27k (exactly $26,978) | ByerN | |
| | Chronomon | · EA | $9.99 | 79 83% | 2.4k | $24k (exactly $23,676) | Stone Golem Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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