Do I ship it?

GamesAutomationAutomation + Wargame

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Wargame Automation game?

Automation + Wargame

Only 13 developers shipped a Wargame Automation 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, Industrial Annihilation, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 30 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $180k, ×295 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 30 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 2.1 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 30 announced, ×3.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Automation + Wargame
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 13
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $30 → $14k (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Automation + Wargame: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 13
Bottom 30% $300 (exactly $300)
Median $1.3k (exactly $1,347)
Top 25% $41k (exactly $40,923)
Top 5% $185k (exactly $185,338)
Developers, 2 yr 13
Released games 30
Announced 30
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $8.99

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 100% on the market, supply 125% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 27%, 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
Wargame
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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, Wargame
Price point
$8.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 60% positive over 821 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $1.3k, 1 in 4 over $40k, 1 in 20 over $180k.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 6 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.

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
Industrial Annihilation · EA $29.99 206 27% 6.2k $185k (exactly $185,338) Galactic Annihilation
Dawn Apart · EA $19.99 245 68% 7.4k $147k (exactly $146,926) Industrial Technology and Witchcraft
D.O.T. Defence $14.99 196 85% 5.9k $88k (exactly $88,141) Rattleaxe Games
Oasis Mission: Colony Sim $14.99 91 56% 2.7k $41k (exactly $40,923) Lunar pug studio
逐鹿汉末:三国 · EA $14.99 31 61% 930 $14k (exactly $13,941) CXC STUDIO
Automata Empire older $8.99 48 66% 1.4k $13k (exactly $12,946) Nonadecimal Creative
Open The Gate: Just A Little $5.99 37 75% 1.1k $6.6k (exactly $6,649) Abubu Dance
Zombie Crush Driver older $2.99 28 71% 840 $2.5k (exactly $2,512) ILXAM, Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich
Space War Economy Idle $4.99 9 66% 270 $1.3k (exactly $1,347) Chasm Studios
Savage Turret · EA older $10.00 2 100% 60 $600 (exactly $600) Yurii Selinnyi
CodeWar Kingdom $8.99 2 50% 60 $539 (exactly $539) NULL.
Fantasy Air-Sea Battles Showdown $4.99 3 100% 90 $449 (exactly $449) WANG WENJIE
FLAAK TD $9.99 1 0% 30 $300 (exactly $300) Oedipe Games, Oedipe Games

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