Do I ship it?

Games › Automation › Automation + Science

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Science Automation game?

Automation + Science

Of 41 developers who shipped a Science 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.. 55 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 $10k, ×16 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $970k, ×1550 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 55 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 15.9 times the market baseline, revenue down 20% on the market, 55 announced, ×2.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Automation + Science
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 41
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $114k → $99k → $38k → $4.2k → $1.0k → $31k → $19k (still earning) → $719 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Automation + Science: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 41
Bottom 30% $599 (exactly $599)
Median $10k (exactly $9,960)
Top 25% $76k (exactly $76,098)
Top 5% $973k (exactly $973,313)
Developers, 2 yr 41
Released games 95
Announced 55
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $11.99

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 20% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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
Science
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high 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; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Strategy, Building
Price point
$11.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.

The top 10 games average 93% positive over 47,157 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $600, median $10k, 1 in 4 over $76k, 1 in 20 over $970k.

3 in 10 developers made under $600. 7 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 55 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Automation with a different setting or mood, 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. + ProgrammingFair84 devs · median $3.8k · 102 announced
  11. + FishingFair40 devs · median $3.4k · 46 announced
  12. + Turn-Based TacticsFair28 devs · median $2.9k · 36 announced

All 135 pairs on the Automation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Timberborn 2026 · $40M Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game 2015 · EA · $15M Stationeers 2017 · EA · $9.0M Per Aspera 2020 · $3.7M Juno: New Origins 2023 · $1.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Timberborn $34.99 38,529 95% 1.2M $40M (exactly $40,443,891) Mechanistry
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game · EA older $29.99 16,815 93% 504k $15M (exactly $15,128,456) Camshaft Software Ltd
Stationeers · EA older $34.99 8,597 88% 258k $9.0M (exactly $9,024,271) RocketWerkz
Per Aspera older $29.99 4,105 76% 123k $3.7M (exactly $3,693,268) Tlön Industries
Juno: New Origins older $19.99 3,085 89% 93k $1.9M (exactly $1,850,074) Jundroo, LLC
Star Birds · EA $19.99 2,990 92% 90k $1.8M (exactly $1,793,103) Toukana Interactive
InfraSpace older $24.99 1,638 82% 49k $1.2M (exactly $1,228,009) Dionic Software
The Last Starship $19.99 1,623 75% 49k $973k (exactly $973,313) Introversion Software
SpaceChem older $9.99 2,626 95% 79k $787k (exactly $787,012) Zachtronics
Little Rocket Lab $19.99 1,286 90% 39k $771k (exactly $771,214) Teenage Astronauts
Ecosystem $19.99 601 76% 18k $360k (exactly $360,420) Tom Johnson
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
Learning Factory $14.99 390 84% 12k $175k (exactly $175,383) Luden.io
MegaFactory Titan $19.99 150 76% 4.5k $90k (exactly $89,955) Q Switched Productions, LLC
Space Architect $9.99 294 73% 8.8k $88k (exactly $88,112) Albert Wiatr

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