Games › Automation › Automation + Mystery
Should I ship a Mystery Automation game?
Automation + Mystery
Only 17 developers shipped a Mystery Automation game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Techtonica, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 41 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $2.7M, ×4407 the market median. Revenue is down 15% on the market; 41 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $148 (exactly $148) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) |
| Top 5% | $2.8M (exactly $2,767,477) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 30 |
| Announced | 41 |
| 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 down 15% on the market, supply 225% 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
- Mystery
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
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 Building, Economy, Idler
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 65% positive over 3,318 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 41 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
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
Techtonica 2024 · $2.8M 
Tunnet 2023 · $126k 
Penkura 2018 · EA · $79k 
Beyond the Doors 2026 · EA · $20k 
Time Bandit – Part 1: Appendages of the Machine 2023 · $19k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Techtonica | $29.99 | 3,076 64% | 92k | $2.8M (exactly $2,767,477) | Fire Hose Games | |
| | Tunnet | older | $5.99 | 699 94% | 21k | $126k (exactly $125,610) | puzzled_squid |
| | Penkura | · EA older | $13.99 | 188 89% | 5.6k | $79k (exactly $78,904) | LionsArt |
| | Beyond the Doors | · EA | $8.99 | 75 72% | 2.3k | $20k (exactly $20,228) | Dream Error |
| | Time Bandit – Part 1: Appendages of the Machine | older | $9.99 | 64 93% | 1.9k | $19k (exactly $19,181) | Joel Jordon |
 | Terraforming Titans | $5.00 | 58 94% | 1.7k | $8.7k (exactly $8,700) | terraforming.titans | |
 | Kibble Cats | $4.99 | 38 89% | 1.1k | $5.7k (exactly $5,689) | Vozmog | |
 | Star Haul Tycoon | $9.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) | sugames | |
 | MyLittlePool | older | $5.99 | 17 17% | 510 | $3.1k (exactly $3,055) | SuperLoki |
 | Pathways & Poltergeists | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | Wise Goose Games | |
 | Flufftopia: Fluffmazing Edition by Daniel da Silva | $4.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $1.9k (exactly $1,946) | Daniel da Silva | |
 | Channel Surfing | $1.99 | 25 84% | 750 | $1.5k (exactly $1,492) | Happy Distractions Studio | |
 | CQ: Calling Any Station | $5.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $719 (exactly $719) | Arkkis | |
 | Small Test | $1.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $298 (exactly $298) | UAIGolem |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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