Games › Automation › Automation + Tower Defense
Should I ship a Tower Defense Automation game?
Automation + Tower Defense
Of 63 developers who shipped a Tower Defense 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.. 119 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $960, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $170k, ×271 the market median. Revenue is down 15% on the market; 119 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $959 (exactly $959) |
| Top 25% | $7.6k (exactly $7,635) |
| Top 5% | $170k (exactly $170,315) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 63 |
| Released games | 131 |
| Announced | 119 |
| 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 down 15% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, 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
- Tower Defense
- 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, Tower Defense; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Base Building, Resource Management
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 12,865 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 27 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 119 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 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
Outpost: Infinity Siege 2024 · $8.7M 
Mindustry 2019 · $7.4M 
The King is Watching 2025 · $4.0M 
Taur 2020 · $1.5M 
FortressCraft Evolved! 2015 · $1.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Outpost: Infinity Siege | older | $24.99 | 11,636 65% | 349k | $8.7M (exactly $8,723,509) | Team Ranger |
| | Mindustry | older | $9.99 | 24,608 95% | 738k | $7.4M (exactly $7,375,018) | AnukenDev |
| | The King is Watching | $14.99 | 9,006 88% | 270k | $4.0M (exactly $4,049,998) | Hypnohead | |
| | Taur | older | $24.99 | 2,011 79% | 60k | $1.5M (exactly $1,507,647) | Echo Entertainment |
| | FortressCraft Evolved! | older | $12.99 | 2,653 72% | 80k | $1.0M (exactly $1,033,874) | ProjectorGames |
 | ShapeHero Factory | $23.99 | 991 88% | 30k | $713k (exactly $713,223) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
 | Cavalry Girls | older | $11.99 | 1,877 88% | 56k | $675k (exactly $675,157) | 中子星游戏研究所 |
 | 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 |
 | No Creeps Were Harmed TD | older | $19.99 | 468 88% | 14k | $281k (exactly $280,660) | MinMax Games Ltd. |
 | Guardians of the Sanctree | $19.99 | 284 72% | 8.5k | $170k (exactly $170,315) | HuCang Studio | |
 | Wireworks | $6.99 | 614 89% | 18k | $129k (exactly $128,756) | JJJ | |
 | D.O.T. Defence | $14.99 | 196 85% | 5.9k | $88k (exactly $88,141) | Rattleaxe Games | |
 | Keep Keepers | $17.99 | 135 87% | 4.1k | $73k (exactly $72,860) | Thunderrock Innovations | |
 | PROFITS 2167: Planetary Resource Optimization & Freight Infrastructure Technician Simulator | · EA | $6.99 | 209 98% | 6.3k | $44k (exactly $43,827) | Simple Software Solutions |
 | Infiniclick | $7.99 | 140 72% | 4.2k | $34k (exactly $33,558) | Nacho AB | |
 | World Crafter TD | $14.99 | 70 48% | 2.1k | $31k (exactly $31,479) | Tbjbu2 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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