Games › Automation › Automation + Roguelite
Should I ship a Roguelite Automation game?
Automation + Roguelite
Of 100 developers who shipped a Roguelite 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.. 166 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.8k, ×7.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $540k, ×874 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 166 games are announced against 67 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $898 (exactly $898) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.8k (exactly $4,823) |
| Top 25% | $31k (exactly $31,029) |
| Top 5% | $549k (exactly $548,634) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 100 |
| Released games | 149 |
| Announced | 166 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, 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
- Roguelite
- 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, Roguelite; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelike, Auto Battler
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 20,309 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 6 in 10 of the 37 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 166 games are announced against 67 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
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
- + MiningFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + FishingFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The King is Watching | $14.99 | 9,006 88% | 270k | $4.0M (exactly $4,049,998) | Hypnohead | |
| | Pax Autocratica | · EA | $29.99 | 3,202 91% | 96k | $2.9M (exactly $2,880,839) | Multiverse |
| | Star Birds | · EA | $19.99 | 2,990 92% | 90k | $1.8M (exactly $1,793,103) | Toukana Interactive |
| | ShapeHero Factory | $23.99 | 991 88% | 30k | $713k (exactly $713,223) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
| | Tower Factory | · EA | $14.99 | 1,220 89% | 37k | $549k (exactly $548,634) | Gius Caminiti |
| | Dream Engines: Nomad Cities | older | $29.99 | 552 73% | 17k | $497k (exactly $496,634) | Suncrash |
| | Rogue Voltage | $15.99 | 593 92% | 18k | $284k (exactly $284,462) | Horizont Computergrafik | |
| | miniBONG | older | $9.99 | 881 79% | 26k | $264k (exactly $264,036) | Game Star |
| | Nomad Idle | $9.99 | 852 64% | 26k | $255k (exactly $255,344) | The Fox Knocks | |
| | Tower Networking Inc. | · EA | $19.99 | 317 95% | 9.5k | $190k (exactly $190,105) | Pocosia Studios |
| | Xenopurge | $12.49 | 419 84% | 13k | $157k (exactly $156,999) | Traptics | |
| | Auto Rogue | $6.99 | 719 91% | 22k | $151k (exactly $150,774) | 定期的な宝物 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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