Games › Automation › Automation + Level Editor
Should I ship a Level Editor Automation game?
Automation + Level Editor
Of 27 developers who shipped a Level Editor 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.. 32 more are announced.
Verdict: long shot, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300, ×0.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, but 1 in 20 cleared $430k, ×688 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 32 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,860) |
| Top 5% | $432k (exactly $431,892) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 27 |
| Released games | 77 |
| Announced | 32 |
| 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 10% on the market, supply 70% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Level Editor
- 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, Level Editor; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Sandbox, Simulation
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 39,897 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 32 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
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
Timberborn 2026 · $40M 
Mindustry 2019 · $7.4M 
Rise of Industry 2019 · $2.8M 
Factory Town 2021 · $2.5M 
Juno: New Origins 2023 · $1.9M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Timberborn | $34.99 | 38,529 95% | 1.2M | $40M (exactly $40,443,891) | Mechanistry | |
| | Mindustry | older | $9.99 | 24,608 95% | 738k | $7.4M (exactly $7,375,018) | AnukenDev |
| | Rise of Industry | older | $29.99 | 3,122 74% | 94k | $2.8M (exactly $2,808,863) | Dapper Penguin Studios |
| | Factory Town | older | $19.99 | 4,142 90% | 124k | $2.5M (exactly $2,483,957) | Erik Asmussen |
| | Juno: New Origins | older | $19.99 | 3,085 89% | 93k | $1.9M (exactly $1,850,074) | Jundroo, LLC |
 | Wreckreation | $39.99 | 360 63% | 11k | $432k (exactly $431,892) | Three Fields Entertainment | |
 | The Signal State | older | $19.99 | 649 86% | 19k | $389k (exactly $389,205) | Reckoner Industries |
 | KitHack Model Club | older | $19.99 | 599 75% | 18k | $359k (exactly $359,220) | Floating Origin Interactive |
 | Smack Studio | older | $14.99 | 522 85% | 16k | $235k (exactly $234,743) | ThirdPixel Interactive |
 | JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator | $17.99 | 378 76% | 11k | $204k (exactly $204,007) | Prof. Scherer | |
 | CFS (Chinese Football Simulator) | $9.99 | 290 67% | 8.7k | $87k (exactly $86,913) | 悟空实验室 | |
 | Quantum Odyssey | · EA | $17.99 | 141 92% | 4.2k | $76k (exactly $76,098) | Quarks Interactive |
 | Master of Realms | · EA | $39.99 | 27 81% | 810 | $32k (exactly $32,392) | TheMasterForge LLC |
 | Cadence | $12.99 | 33 100% | 990 | $13k (exactly $12,860) | Made With Monster Love | |
 | The Lilliput Workshop | $7.99 | 51 88% | 1.5k | $12k (exactly $12,225) | Cotton Game | |
 | Color Factory: Automation Meets Canvas | $4.99 | 79 87% | 2.4k | $12k (exactly $11,826) | Bosphorus Games | |
 | Marble Odyssey: Sandbox | $10.99 | 9 100% | 270 | $3.0k (exactly $2,967) | Mustafa Özgen |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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