Games › Automation › Automation + Life Sim
Should I ship a Life Sim Automation game?
Automation + Life Sim
Of 154 developers who shipped a Life Sim 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.. 183 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $7.3k, ×12 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $490k, ×781 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 183 games are announced against 106 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $900 (exactly $900) |
|---|---|
| Median | $7.3k (exactly $7,282) |
| Top 25% | $55k (exactly $55,390) |
| Top 5% | $490k (exactly $490,243) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 154 |
| Released games | 241 |
| Announced | 183 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 50% on the market, supply 110% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, 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
- Life Sim
- 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, Life Sim; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Management, Resource Management
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Relaxing, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 30,596 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 6 in 10 of the 60 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 183 games are announced against 106 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
The Wandering Village 2025 · $7.0M 
Cash Cleaner Simulator 2025 · $4.4M 
Rusty's Retirement 2024 · $2.9M 
Go-Go Town! 2026 · $2.1M 
Recycling Center Simulator 2024 · $1.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Wandering Village | $29.99 | 7,734 91% | 232k | $7.0M (exactly $6,958,280) | Stray Fawn Studio | |
| | Cash Cleaner Simulator | $19.99 | 7,334 92% | 220k | $4.4M (exactly $4,398,200) | Mind Control Games | |
| | Rusty's Retirement | older | $6.99 | 13,902 96% | 417k | $2.9M (exactly $2,915,249) | Mister Morris Games |
| | Go-Go Town! | $27.99 | 2,476 93% | 74k | $2.1M (exactly $2,079,097) | Prideful Sloth | |
| | Recycling Center Simulator | $19.99 | 2,594 84% | 78k | $1.6M (exactly $1,555,622) | Balas Games | |
 | Parcel Simulator | $17.99 | 2,804 93% | 84k | $1.5M (exactly $1,513,319) | Dansan Digital | |
 | Havendock | $19.99 | 1,504 81% | 45k | $902k (exactly $901,949) | YYZ Studio | |
 | Little Rocket Lab | $19.99 | 1,286 90% | 39k | $771k (exactly $771,214) | Teenage Astronauts | |
 | Chop Chop Inc. | $12.99 | 1,258 90% | 38k | $490k (exactly $490,243) | NullRef Entertainment | |
 | Maltese's Fluffy Onsen | $5.99 | 2,727 94% | 82k | $490k (exactly $490,042) | Sinkhole Studio, Moonlab Studio | |
 | Fuel Harvest Together | $13.99 | 879 69% | 26k | $369k (exactly $368,916) | Say2Sun |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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