Do I ship it?

Games › Automation › Automation + Programming

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Programming Automation game?

Automation + Programming

Of 84 developers who shipped a Programming 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.. 102 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $3.8k, ×6.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $420. Revenue is up 25% on the market; 102 games are announced against 59 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 6.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 25% on the market, 102 announced, ×1.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Automation + Programming
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 84
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.5k → $22k → $3.7k → $3.6k → $76k → $4.3k → $7.6k (still earning) → $539 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Automation + Programming: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 84
Bottom 30% $419 (exactly $419)
Median $3.8k (exactly $3,776)
Top 25% $59k (exactly $59,226)
Top 5% $397k (exactly $396,591)
Developers, 2 yr 84
Released games 211
Announced 102
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $8.99

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 25% on the market, supply 120% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, 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
Programming
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, Programming; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Strategy, Sandbox
Price point
$8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.

The top 10 games average 90% positive over 16,374 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $420, median $3.8k, 1 in 4 over $59k, 1 in 20 over $390k.

3 in 10 developers made under $420. 7 in 10 of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 102 games are announced against 59 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Automation with a different second tag, 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. + FishingFair40 devs · median $3.4k · 46 announced
  11. + Turn-Based TacticsFair28 devs · median $2.9k · 36 announced
  12. + DeckbuildingFair44 devs · median $2.8k · 51 announced

All 135 pairs on the Automation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Stormworks: Build and Rescue 2020 · $41M Software Inc. 2015 · EA · $5.2M Opus Magnum 2017 · $3.6M Turing Complete 2021 · EA · $3.3M The Farmer Was Replaced 2025 · $2.7M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Stormworks: Build and Rescue older $24.99 54,649 90% 1.6M $41M (exactly $40,970,355) Geometa
Software Inc. · EA older $22.99 7,576 94% 227k $5.2M (exactly $5,225,167) Coredumping
Opus Magnum older $19.99 5,964 97% 179k $3.6M (exactly $3,576,611) Zachtronics
Turing Complete · EA older $19.99 5,520 95% 166k $3.3M (exactly $3,310,344) LevelHead
The Farmer Was Replaced $9.99 9,116 95% 273k $2.7M (exactly $2,732,065) Timon Herzog
Autonauts older $19.99 3,596 90% 108k $2.2M (exactly $2,156,521) Denki
Juno: New Origins older $19.99 3,085 89% 93k $1.9M (exactly $1,850,074) Jundroo, LLC
Desynced $29.99 1,879 79% 56k $1.7M (exactly $1,690,536) Stage Games Inc.
SHENZHEN I/O older $14.99 3,746 95% 112k $1.7M (exactly $1,684,576) Zachtronics
Human Resource Machine older $14.99 3,274 94% 98k $1.5M (exactly $1,472,318) Tomorrow Corporation
SimplePlanes 2 · EA $19.99 1,316 92% 39k $789k (exactly $789,205) Jundroo, LLC
Kaizen: A Factory Story $19.99 694 91% 21k $416k (exactly $416,192) Coincidence
Omega Crafter $24.99 529 77% 16k $397k (exactly $396,591) Preferred Networks
Craftomation 101: Programming & Craft $14.99 636 83% 19k $286k (exactly $286,009) Luden.io
Rogue Voltage $15.99 593 92% 18k $284k (exactly $284,462) Horizont Computergrafik
Data Center $8.99 916 76% 27k $247k (exactly $247,045) Waseku
JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator $17.99 378 76% 11k $204k (exactly $204,007) Prof. Scherer
Tower Networking Inc. · EA $19.99 317 95% 9.5k $190k (exactly $190,105) Pocosia Studios

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