Games › Automation › Automation + Loot
Should I ship a Loot Automation game?
Automation + Loot
Of 58 developers who shipped a Loot 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.. 111 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.8k, ×7.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $340k, ×554 the market median. Revenue is up 300% on the market; 111 games are announced against 48 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $897 (exactly $897) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.8k (exactly $4,790) |
| Top 25% | $19k (exactly $19,272) |
| Top 5% | $348k (exactly $347,652) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 58 |
| Released games | 109 |
| Announced | 111 |
| 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 300% on the market, supply 300% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 21%, 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
- Loot
- 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, Loot; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, RPG, Incremental
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 9,511 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 8 in 10 of the 19 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 111 games are announced against 48 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Fortune Mill | $7.99 | 3,712 81% | 111k | $890k (exactly $889,766) | Lavaflame2 | |
| | Loot of Baal | $8.99 | 1,372 62% | 41k | $370k (exactly $370,028) | Gleamer Studio | |
| | Path of Idle: Old Gods Rising | $9.99 | 1,160 77% | 35k | $348k (exactly $347,652) | Small Mill, Small Mill | |
| | Legends of Dragaea: Idle Dungeons | $9.99 | 976 86% | 29k | $293k (exactly $292,507) | Blast Programming | |
| | miniBONG | older | $9.99 | 881 79% | 26k | $264k (exactly $264,036) | Game Star |
| | Space industrial empire | older | $5.99 | 1,022 85% | 31k | $184k (exactly $183,653) | 游戏养家工作室 |
| | Lootun | older | $5.49 | 1,040 93% | 31k | $171k (exactly $171,288) | ArrowSoftGames |
| | XiuzhenWorld | older | $12.99 | 436 75% | 13k | $170k (exactly $169,909) | Noforgetit |
| | Bioweaver | $6.99 | 668 77% | 20k | $140k (exactly $140,080) | Emprom Game, Wild Kid Games | |
| | Immortal Seeker | older | $6.99 | 537 60% | 16k | $113k (exactly $112,609) | Ilogin Studio |
| | Cultivation Magic World | · EA | $12.99 | 276 78% | 8.3k | $108k (exactly $107,557) | DMG Studio |
| | Rocky Idle | $9.99 | 308 83% | 9.2k | $92k (exactly $92,308) | Rocky Games Studio | |
| | IDLE_DIRECTIVE | $4.99 | 505 86% | 15k | $76k (exactly $75,598) | Kevinfu510 | |
| | Legends of Wasteland | $6.99 | 320 62% | 9.6k | $67k (exactly $67,104) | 清友工作室 | |
| | Thousand Floors | $9.99 | 214 41% | 6.4k | $64k (exactly $64,136) | 琥珀塔 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.