Games › Automation › Automation + Mining
Should I ship a Mining Automation game?
Automation + Mining
Of 105 developers who shipped a Mining 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.. 164 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.9k, ×7.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $950. Revenue is up 135% on the market; 164 games are announced against 86 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $945 (exactly $945) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.9k (exactly $4,908) |
| Top 25% | $49k (exactly $49,238) |
| Top 5% | $641k (exactly $641,446) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 105 |
| Released games | 166 |
| Announced | 164 |
| 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 135% on the market, supply 355% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, 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
- Mining
- 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, Mining; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Building, Resource Management
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 15,314 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $950. 6 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 164 games are announced against 86 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
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + FishingFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
- + DeckbuildingFair
Comparable games
Hydroneer 2020 · $12M 
Captain of Industry 2022 · EA · $12M 
Stationeers 2017 · EA · $9.0M 
Melvor Idle 2021 · $4.4M 
Automation Empire 2019 · $2.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hydroneer | older | $14.99 | 27,131 85% | 814k | $12M (exactly $12,200,811) | Foulball Hangover |
| | Captain of Industry | · EA older | $34.99 | 11,027 90% | 331k | $12M (exactly $11,575,042) | MaFi Games |
| | Stationeers | · EA older | $34.99 | 8,597 88% | 258k | $9.0M (exactly $9,024,271) | RocketWerkz |
| | Melvor Idle | older | $9.99 | 14,630 90% | 439k | $4.4M (exactly $4,384,611) | Games by Malcs |
| | Automation Empire | older | $29.99 | 2,584 65% | 78k | $2.3M (exactly $2,324,825) | DOG HOGGLER |
 | MineMogul | · EA | $14.99 | 4,330 96% | 130k | $1.9M (exactly $1,947,201) | NoodleForge (Gvarados & Diomonder) |
 | TerraTech Worlds | · EA older | $29.99 | 2,027 62% | 61k | $1.8M (exactly $1,823,692) | Payload Studios |
 | Hammerting | older | $24.99 | 1,733 57% | 52k | $1.3M (exactly $1,299,230) | Warpzone Studios |
 | AETHUS | $19.99 | 2,030 94% | 61k | $1.2M (exactly $1,217,391) | Pawsmonaut Games | |
 | FortressCraft Evolved! | older | $12.99 | 2,653 72% | 80k | $1.0M (exactly $1,033,874) | ProjectorGames |
 | The Last Starship | $19.99 | 1,623 75% | 49k | $973k (exactly $973,313) | Introversion Software | |
 | Return from Core | $16.99 | 1,620 75% | 49k | $826k (exactly $825,714) | 顽核社 FuncoreClub | |
 | Orebound | · EA | $24.99 | 945 77% | 28k | $708k (exactly $708,466) | Emberforge |
 | Ore Factory Squad ⛏️ | $12.99 | 1,646 87% | 49k | $641k (exactly $641,446) | threeW | |
 | Alaska Gold Fever | $16.99 | 959 79% | 29k | $489k (exactly $488,802) | Baked Games | |
 | OxyRail | · EA | $14.99 | 949 80% | 28k | $427k (exactly $426,765) | OxygenTech Limited |
 | Astronomics | · EA | $19.99 | 706 89% | 21k | $423k (exactly $423,388) | Numizmatic |
 | Industry Giant 4.0 | $24.99 | 506 33% | 15k | $379k (exactly $379,348) | Don VS Dodo |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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