Do I ship it?

GamesAutomationAutomation + Sports

Specimen · observed

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.

Deciding numbers: median 3.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 95% on the market, 12 announced, ×0.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Automation + Sports
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 18

not enough cohorts to draw

Outcomes for Automation + Sports: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 18
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.

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
Sports
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 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, 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
Plate 4 · demand

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.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $360, median $1.9k, 1 in 4 over $3.5k, 1 in 20 over $86k.

3 in 10 developers made under $360. 12 games are announced against 14 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. + 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

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.