Games › Automation › Automation + Space
Should I ship a Space Automation game?
Automation + Space
Of 100 developers who shipped a Space 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.. 180 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 $2.4k, ×3.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $1.5M, ×2394 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 180 games are announced against 72 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $600 (exactly $600) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) |
| Top 25% | $36k (exactly $35,976) |
| Top 5% | $1.5M (exactly $1,503,448) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 100 |
| Released games | 188 |
| Announced | 180 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 flat on the market, supply 155% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, 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
- Space
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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 Simulation, Base Building, Resource Management
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 22,090 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 6 in 10 of the 37 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 180 games are announced against 72 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 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
ASTRONEER 2019 · $107M 
Dyson Sphere Program 2021 · EA · $50M 
The Planet Crafter 2024 · $50M 
Stationeers 2017 · EA · $9.0M 
Per Aspera 2020 · $3.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ASTRONEER | older | $29.99 | 118,844 91% | 3.6M | $107M (exactly $106,923,947) | System Era Softworks |
| | Dyson Sphere Program | · EA older | $19.99 | 83,523 97% | 2.5M | $50M (exactly $50,088,743) | Youthcat Studio |
| | The Planet Crafter | older | $23.99 | 68,855 96% | 2.1M | $50M (exactly $49,554,944) | Miju Games |
| | 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 |
 | The Crust | $31.99 | 3,502 76% | 105k | $3.4M (exactly $3,360,869) | VEOM Studio | |
 | SpaceCraft | · EA | $29.99 | 2,616 64% | 78k | $2.4M (exactly $2,353,615) | Shiro Games |
 | Juno: New Origins | older | $19.99 | 3,085 89% | 93k | $1.9M (exactly $1,850,074) | Jundroo, LLC |
 | TerraTech Worlds | · EA older | $29.99 | 2,027 62% | 61k | $1.8M (exactly $1,823,692) | Payload Studios |
 | Star Birds | · EA | $19.99 | 2,990 92% | 90k | $1.8M (exactly $1,793,103) | Toukana Interactive |
 | Astrometica | · EA | $19.99 | 2,912 82% | 87k | $1.7M (exactly $1,746,326) | BeryMery |
 | Eden Crafters | $19.99 | 2,507 85% | 75k | $1.5M (exactly $1,503,448) | Osaris Games | |
 | Astro Colony | $19.99 | 2,397 80% | 72k | $1.4M (exactly $1,437,481) | Terad Games | |
 | AETHUS | $19.99 | 2,030 94% | 61k | $1.2M (exactly $1,217,391) | Pawsmonaut Games | |
 | The Last Starship | $19.99 | 1,623 75% | 49k | $973k (exactly $973,313) | Introversion Software | |
 | Outworld Station | $18.99 | 807 84% | 24k | $460k (exactly $459,748) | Trickjump Games Ltd | |
 | Astronomics | · EA | $19.99 | 706 89% | 21k | $423k (exactly $423,388) | Numizmatic |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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