Games › Automation › Automation + Sports
Should I ship an Automation Sports game?
Automation + Sports
Only 18 developers shipped an Automation Sports 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, CFS (Chinese Football Simulator), made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 12 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×3.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is up 95% on the market; 12 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.9k (exactly $1,946) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) |
| Top 5% | $87k (exactly $86,913) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 35 |
| Announced | 12 |
| 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 up 95% on the market, supply 250% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Sports
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation, Sports; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Football (Soccer), Simulation, Character Customization
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 75% positive over 948 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 12 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | KartKraft™ | older | $24.99 | 2,987 73% | 90k | $2.2M (exactly $2,239,354) | Motorsport Games |
| | Nimbatus - The Space Drone Constructor | older | $19.99 | 1,758 78% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,054,273) | Stray Fawn Studio |
| | Rush Rally Origins | older | $14.99 | 306 95% | 9.2k | $138k (exactly $137,608) | Brownmonster Limited |
| | LurkBait Twitch Fishing | older | $7.00 | 548 87% | 16k | $115k (exactly $115,080) | BLAMCAM Interactive |
| | CFS (Chinese Football Simulator) | $9.99 | 290 67% | 8.7k | $87k (exactly $86,913) | 悟空实验室 | |
| | FD 27: Direct Your Football Club | · EA | $11.99 | 121 56% | 3.6k | $44k (exactly $43,524) | Syra Games |
| | Desktop Fishing | $3.49 | 333 91% | 10k | $35k (exactly $34,865) | Ostend Games | |
| | Goal Idle | · EA | $6.99 | 101 74% | 3.0k | $21k (exactly $21,180) | Royue Games |
| | Digital Diamond Baseball V10 | older | $14.99 | 20 80% | 600 | $9.0k (exactly $8,994) | Curiosity Computing |
| | Digital Diamond Baseball V9 | older | $9.99 | 21 90% | 630 | $6.3k (exactly $6,294) | Curiosity Computing |
| | Swish Ball Clicker | $7.99 | 15 53% | 450 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Broad Street Indie Games | |
| | Gold ’n Goal | $2.99 | 34 55% | 1.0k | $3.1k (exactly $3,050) | Frog Hammer | |
| | Padel Tycoon | $4.99 | 18 94% | 540 | $2.7k (exactly $2,695) | Santiago Piedras Gonzalez | |
| | Gym Empire - Idle Gym Tycoon Management | $4.99 | 14 71% | 420 | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) | Chronik Spartan | |
| | Chat Ragdoll Racing | · EA | $4.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $1.9k (exactly $1,946) | Scuffed Gamedev, Samuli Salonen, Marcus… (Scuffed Gamedev, Samuli Salonen, Marcus Rose) |
| | Dumpster Dive Live | · EA | $6.00 | 9 100% | 270 | $1.6k (exactly $1,620) | Studio Juicebox |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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