Games › Automation › Automation + Hacking
Should I ship a Hacking Automation game?
Automation + Hacking
Of 25 developers who shipped a Hacking 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.. 33 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.1k, ×5.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $76k, ×121 the market median. Revenue is down 40% on the market; 33 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.1k (exactly $3,146) |
| Top 25% | $11k (exactly $10,791) |
| Top 5% | $76k (exactly $76,098) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 57 |
| Announced | 33 |
| 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 40% on the market, supply 25% 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
- Hacking
- 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; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Logic, Programming
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Difficult, 1980s, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 923 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 7 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 33 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
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
Turing Complete 2021 · EA · $3.3M 
SHENZHEN I/O 2016 · $1.7M 
Screeps: World 2016 · $1.2M 
EXAPUNKS 2018 · $826k 
TIS-100 2015 · $711k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Turing Complete | · EA older | $19.99 | 5,520 95% | 166k | $3.3M (exactly $3,310,344) | LevelHead |
| | SHENZHEN I/O | older | $14.99 | 3,746 95% | 112k | $1.7M (exactly $1,684,576) | Zachtronics |
| | Screeps: World | older | $19.99 | 1,934 86% | 58k | $1.2M (exactly $1,159,820) | Screeps, LLC |
| | EXAPUNKS | older | $19.99 | 1,378 96% | 41k | $826k (exactly $826,387) | Zachtronics |
| | TIS-100 | older | $6.99 | 3,391 97% | 102k | $711k (exactly $711,093) | Zachtronics |
 | The Signal State | older | $19.99 | 649 86% | 19k | $389k (exactly $389,205) | Reckoner Industries |
 | Retro Gadgets | · EA older | $19.99 | 470 89% | 14k | $282k (exactly $281,859) | Licorice ehf, Studio Evil |
 | Logic World | · EA older | $25.00 | 338 94% | 10k | $254k (exactly $253,500) | Mouse Hat Games |
 | Crypto Mining Simulator | older | $4.99 | 1,419 65% | 43k | $212k (exactly $212,424) | Satosha Nakamoti |
 | JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator | $17.99 | 378 76% | 11k | $204k (exactly $204,007) | Prof. Scherer | |
 | Quantum Odyssey | · EA | $17.99 | 141 92% | 4.2k | $76k (exactly $76,098) | Quarks Interactive |
 | Infiniclick | $7.99 | 140 72% | 4.2k | $34k (exactly $33,558) | Nacho AB | |
 | Hard Chip | · EA | $14.99 | 68 91% | 2.0k | $31k (exactly $30,580) | Elorth |
 | Mnemonimov | · EA | $19.99 | 32 100% | 960 | $19k (exactly $19,190) | Reverie Foundry |
 | Breadbox | $11.99 | 34 97% | 1.0k | $12k (exactly $12,230) | Bitfall | |
 | QuantumPulse 2A | $11.99 | 30 93% | 900 | $11k (exactly $10,791) | Dashing Strike | |
 | Data Center Simulator Game | · EA | $22.00 | 11 9% | 330 | $7.3k (exactly $7,260) | DC Uplink |
 | Bytecollector | $1.99 | 76 80% | 2.3k | $4.5k (exactly $4,537) | TheTallLeaf | |
 | ChipWits | $10.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $4.3k (exactly $4,286) | ChipWits, Inc. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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