Do I ship it?

Games › Base Building › Base Building + Board Game

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Board Game Base Building game?

Base Building + Board Game

Of 24 developers who shipped a Board Game Base Building 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.. 42 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.5k, ×4.0 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $290k, ×475 the market median. Revenue is up 425% on the market; 42 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 425% on the market, 42 announced, ×3.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Base Building + Board Game
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 24
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $148 → $22k → $1.2k → $359 → $3.2k → $11k (still earning) → $10k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Base Building + Board Game: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 24
Bottom 30% $359 (exactly $359)
Median $2.5k (exactly $2,514)
Top 25% $24k (exactly $23,740)
Top 5% $299k (exactly $298,601)
Developers, 2 yr 24
Released games 55
Announced 42
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 425% on the market, supply as many developers as 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.

Base Building
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Board Game
effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Base Building, Board Game; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, City Builder, Resource Management
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Stylized, Relaxing, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 89% positive over 2,738 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 $2.5k, 1 in 4 over $23k, 1 in 20 over $290k.

3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 42 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Base Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + ProgrammingFair13 devs · median $53k · 21 announced
  2. + DwarvesFair12 devs · median $13k · 19 announced
  3. + Bullet HellFair61 devs · median $540 · 67 announced
  4. + DiplomacyPoor odds19 devs · median $520k · 47 announced
  5. + SailingPoor odds9 devs · median $356k · 38 announced
  6. + Dating SimPoor odds19 devs · median $128k · 21 announced
  7. + TrainsPoor odds19 devs · median $113k · 47 announced
  8. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds20 devs · median $73k · 35 announced
  9. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds130 devs · median $72k · 262 announced
  10. + UndergroundPoor odds12 devs · median $65k · 71 announced
  11. + MarsPoor odds15 devs · median $58k · 28 announced
  12. + HistoricalPoor odds81 devs · median $58k · 175 announced

All 175 pairs on the Base Building page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Tainted Grail: Conquest 2021 · $4.6M Terraforming Mars 2018 · $3.1M Line War 2022 · $807k Let Them Trade 2025 · $577k Dice Legacy 2021 · $401k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Tainted Grail: Conquest older $19.99 7,589 90% 228k $4.6M (exactly $4,551,123) Questline
Terraforming Mars older $19.99 5,194 71% 156k $3.1M (exactly $3,114,842) Artefacts Studio
Line War older $24.99 1,076 80% 32k $807k (exactly $806,677) Studio Centurion
Let Them Trade $17.99 1,070 84% 32k $577k (exactly $577,479) Spaceflower
Dice Legacy older $14.99 892 67% 27k $401k (exactly $401,132) DESTINYbit
Everdell older $19.99 577 90% 17k $346k (exactly $346,027) Dire Wolf
Dawnfolk $14.99 664 94% 20k $299k (exactly $298,601) Darenn Keller
Dice Kingdoms older $14.99 580 83% 17k $261k (exactly $260,826) Fivemid Studio
Preserve $12.49 690 92% 21k $259k (exactly $258,543) Bitmap Galaxy
The Banished Vault older $24.99 189 78% 5.7k $142k (exactly $141,693) Lunar Division
Amberspire $24.99 58 86% 1.7k $43k (exactly $43,483) Lunar Division
Tactical Annihilation $15.99 56 98% 1.7k $27k (exactly $26,863) B.G. Game Studio
Astro Protocol $11.99 66 93% 2.0k $24k (exactly $23,740) Null Vector Studios
SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD $9.99 73 83% 2.2k $22k (exactly $21,878) Logix Interactive
Automatic Kingdom $12.99 28 75% 840 $11k (exactly $10,912) Matthew Pontarolo
Areteion $19.99 17 94% 510 $10k (exactly $10,195) juxtapositioned
Dead Soul TowerDefense:Shadow Labyrinth $9.99 16 50% 480 $4.8k (exactly $4,795) HY Indie Game

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