Games › Base Building › Base Building + Dwarves
Should I ship a Dwarf Base Building game?
Base Building + Dwarves
Only 12 developers shipped a Dwarf Base Building 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, Orebound, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 19 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $13k, ×20 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $5.3k. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 19 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $5.2k (exactly $5,240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $13k (exactly $12,860) |
| Top 25% | $334k (exactly $333,866) |
| Top 5% | $708k (exactly $708,466) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 12 |
| Released games | 27 |
| Announced | 19 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $12.99 |
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 400% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Dwarves
- 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
- Base Building
- Price point
- $12.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 4,669 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $5.3k. 19 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Base Building with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + UndergroundPoor odds
- + MarsPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + Job SimulatorPoor odds
Comparable games
Dwarf Fortress 2022 · $26M 
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™ 2024 · $9.2M 
SpellForce 3 Reforced 2017 · $6.9M 
SpellForce 3 Soul Harvest 2019 · $1.2M 
KeeperRL 2024 · $1.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dwarf Fortress | older | $29.99 | 29,303 94% | 879k | $26M (exactly $26,363,909) | Bay 12 Games |
| | The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™ | older | $29.99 | 10,242 80% | 307k | $9.2M (exactly $9,214,727) | Free Range Games |
| | SpellForce 3 Reforced | older | $39.99 | 5,784 76% | 174k | $6.9M (exactly $6,939,065) | Grimlore Games |
| | SpellForce 3 Soul Harvest | older | $19.99 | 1,992 84% | 60k | $1.2M (exactly $1,194,602) | Grimlore Games |
| | KeeperRL | older | $19.99 | 1,677 83% | 50k | $1.0M (exactly $1,005,697) | Electric Succubi |
 | Regions Of Ruin | older | $11.99 | 1,972 84% | 59k | $709k (exactly $709,328) | Gameclaw Studio |
 | Orebound | · EA | $24.99 | 945 77% | 28k | $708k (exactly $708,466) | Emberforge |
 | Gnomes | $9.99 | 1,757 94% | 53k | $527k (exactly $526,573) | DYSTOPIAN | |
 | Dwarf Eats Mountain | $9.99 | 1,114 80% | 33k | $334k (exactly $333,866) | Green Wizard | |
 | First Dwarf | · EA older | $24.99 | 314 76% | 9.4k | $235k (exactly $235,406) | Star Drifters |
 | Regions of Ruin: Runegate | $19.99 | 389 84% | 12k | $233k (exactly $233,283) | Gameclaw Studio | |
 | Hold The Mine | · EA | $14.99 | 338 83% | 10k | $152k (exactly $151,999) | Hookaria Games |
 | Dwarf Delve | $12.99 | 33 33% | 990 | $13k (exactly $12,860) | Gloom Box | |
 | Drill Rift | $14.99 | 24 75% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | Steam Veil Games | |
 | Into the Slimy Mines | $12.99 | 26 100% | 780 | $10k (exactly $10,132) | Ant Workshop Ltd | |
 | Dworf's Forbidden Gold | $4.99 | 35 57% | 1.1k | $5.2k (exactly $5,240) | Hadamant | |
 | Mine It Down | $3.99 | 8 75% | 240 | $958 (exactly $958) | Topito Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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