Games › Automation › Automation + Modern
Should I ship a Modern-Day Automation game?
Automation + Modern
Of 30 developers who shipped a Modern-Day 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.. 29 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $810. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 29 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $807 (exactly $807) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,317) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $11,988) |
| Top 5% | $379k (exactly $379,348) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 30 |
| Released games | 59 |
| Announced | 29 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.49 |
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 175% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, 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
- Modern
- 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; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Simulation, Immersive Sim
- Price point
- $5.49 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $5.49.
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 14,923 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $810. 7 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Automation with a different setting or mood, 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
RoadCraft 2025 · $16M 
InfraSpace 2023 · $1.2M 
Industry Giant 4.0 2025 · $379k 
Transport INC 2020 · $365k 
SeaOrama: World of Shipping 2023 · $229k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
| | InfraSpace | older | $24.99 | 1,638 82% | 49k | $1.2M (exactly $1,228,009) | Dionic Software |
| | Industry Giant 4.0 | $24.99 | 506 33% | 15k | $379k (exactly $379,348) | Don VS Dodo | |
| | Transport INC | older | $11.99 | 1,014 69% | 30k | $365k (exactly $364,736) | DIGIFOX |
| | SeaOrama: World of Shipping | older | $19.99 | 382 58% | 11k | $229k (exactly $229,085) | Hidden Tower, SeaOrama |
 | A=B | older | $4.99 | 908 94% | 27k | $136k (exactly $135,928) | Artless Games |
 | Technicity | older | $17.99 | 200 75% | 6.0k | $108k (exactly $107,940) | Osaris Games |
 | Check Inn | $14.99 | 197 84% | 5.9k | $89k (exactly $88,591) | KishMish Games | |
 | Pumping Simulator | older | $4.99 | 479 71% | 14k | $72k (exactly $71,706) | Lance Games |
 | Blind Box Shop Simulator | $9.99 | 218 87% | 6.5k | $65k (exactly $65,335) | NovaraGames | |
 | Vending Dokan!: Kozy Kiosk | · EA | $11.99 | 150 90% | 4.5k | $54k (exactly $53,955) | Aftabi Games |
 | Laundry & Supermarket Simulator | $9.99 | 86 77% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $25,774) | SmartPlayGames | |
 | Barman Simulator | $9.99 | 52 65% | 1.6k | $16k (exactly $15,584) | VirtualMind | |
 | PC Store Simulator | $9.99 | 40 35% | 1.2k | $12k (exactly $11,988) | CS Forge | |
 | Paperwork | $3.99 | 92 95% | 2.8k | $11k (exactly $11,012) | Broken Record Studio | |
 | AI Faith: Compute [>_AIFC] | $4.99 | 55 81% | 1.7k | $8.2k (exactly $8,234) | Beneloop.ai |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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