Do I ship it?

Games › Automation › Automation + Magic

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Magic Automation game?

Automation + Magic

Of 57 developers who shipped a Magic 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.. 107 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $5.7k, ×9.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.8k; 1 in 20 cleared $250k, ×407 the market median. Revenue is up 130% on the market; 107 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 9.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 130% on the market, 107 announced, ×2.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Automation + Magic
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 57
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $61k → $110k → $5.1k → $1.6k → $98k → $2.8k (still earning) → $5.1k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Automation + Magic: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 57
Bottom 30% $1.8k (exactly $1,799)
Median $5.7k (exactly $5,662)
Top 25% $30k (exactly $30,130)
Top 5% $255k (exactly $255,344)
Developers, 2 yr 57
Released games 96
Announced 107
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.99

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 130% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Magic
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Automation; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Resource Management, Simulation, RPG
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 4,644 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $1.8k, median $5.7k, 1 in 4 over $30k, 1 in 20 over $250k.

3 in 10 developers made under $1.8k. 7 in 10 of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 107 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Automation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Job SimulatorStrong odds36 devs · median $57k · 31 announced
  2. + Female ProtagonistStrong odds27 devs · median $4.5k · 32 announced
  3. + Open World Survival CraftFair28 devs · median $307k · 37 announced
  4. + HorrorFair19 devs · median $8.0k · 29 announced
  5. + HistoricalFair26 devs · median $7.9k · 24 announced
  6. + UndergroundFair20 devs · median $7.4k · 32 announced
  7. + Class-BasedFair19 devs · median $6.6k · 22 announced
  8. + MiningFair105 devs · median $4.9k · 164 announced
  9. + Auto BattlerFair112 devs · median $4.5k · 153 announced
  10. + ProgrammingFair84 devs · median $3.8k · 102 announced
  11. + FishingFair40 devs · median $3.4k · 46 announced
  12. + Turn-Based TacticsFair28 devs · median $2.9k · 36 announced

All 135 pairs on the Automation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Melvor Idle 2021 · $4.4M Potion Tycoon 2024 · $377k The Magical Mixture Mill 2024 · $330k AutoForge 2024 · EA · $329k Legends of Dragaea: Idle Dungeons 2025 · $293k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Melvor Idle older $9.99 14,630 90% 439k $4.4M (exactly $4,384,611) Games by Malcs
Potion Tycoon $19.99 629 71% 19k $377k (exactly $377,211) Snowhound Games
The Magical Mixture Mill older $19.99 550 82% 17k $330k (exactly $329,835) Glowlight
AutoForge · EA older $24.99 439 86% 13k $329k (exactly $329,118) Siege Games
Legends of Dragaea: Idle Dungeons $9.99 976 86% 29k $293k (exactly $292,507) Blast Programming
Nomad Idle $9.99 852 64% 26k $255k (exactly $255,344) The Fox Knocks
Jianghu Survivor older $6.99 1,076 86% 32k $226k (exactly $225,637) Surprising Studio
MoteMancer · EA $29.99 243 91% 7.3k $219k (exactly $218,627) CyanAvatar Studios
Factory Town Idle older $4.99 1,232 90% 37k $184k (exactly $184,430) Erik Asmussen
XiuzhenWorld older $12.99 436 75% 13k $170k (exactly $169,909) Noforgetit
Ritual of Raven $14.99 325 88% 9.8k $146k (exactly $146,152) Spellgarden Games
Loafing Town $6.99 531 85% 16k $111k (exactly $111,351) GoblinZz
Arcane Trigger $8.99 363 85% 11k $98k (exactly $97,901) MiniWhale
Lazy Witch's Factory · EA $15.99 204 91% 6.1k $98k (exactly $97,859) MELTCLOCK.Inc
Legends of Wasteland $6.99 320 62% 9.6k $67k (exactly $67,104) 清友工作室
Sloppy Fields · EA $9.79 201 95% 6.0k $59k (exactly $59,034) PixelPanzone

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.