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Should I ship a Fantasy Base Building game?
Base Building + Fantasy
Of 267 developers who shipped a Fantasy 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.. 725 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.1k, ×8.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×2675 the market median. Revenue is up 55% on the market; 725 games are announced against 157 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $839 (exactly $839) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.1k (exactly $5,095) |
| Top 25% | $113k (exactly $113,087) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,679,740) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 267 |
| Released games | 681 |
| Announced | 725 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 55% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Fantasy
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Base Building; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Strategy, Management
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 107,210 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $840. 6 in 10 of the 120 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 725 games are announced against 157 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Base Building with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + 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
Comparable games
ARK: Survival Ascended 2023 · EA · $144M 
Enshrouded 2024 · EA · $112M 
Cult of the Lamb 2022 · $84M 
Dwarf Fortress 2022 · $26M 
RuneScape: Dragonwilds 2026 · $25M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ARK: Survival Ascended | · EA older | $44.99 | 106,761 60% | 3.2M | $144M (exactly $144,095,322) | Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, In… (Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, Instinct Games) |
| | Enshrouded | · EA older | $39.99 | 93,426 85% | 2.8M | $112M (exactly $112,083,172) | Keen Games GmbH |
| | Cult of the Lamb | older | $24.99 | 112,096 95% | 3.4M | $84M (exactly $84,038,371) | Massive Monster |
| | Dwarf Fortress | older | $29.99 | 29,303 94% | 879k | $26M (exactly $26,363,909) | Bay 12 Games |
| | RuneScape: Dragonwilds | $29.99 | 28,071 81% | 842k | $25M (exactly $25,255,479) | Jagex Ltd | |
 | Age of Mythology: Retold | older | $29.99 | 20,943 90% | 628k | $19M (exactly $18,842,417) | World's Edge, Forgotten Empires, Tantal… (World's Edge, Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, CaptureAge, Virtuos Games) |
 | Kingdom Two Crowns | older | $19.99 | 31,259 90% | 938k | $19M (exactly $18,746,022) | Fury Studios, Coatsink |
 | Amazing Cultivation Simulator | older | $24.99 | 19,111 85% | 573k | $14M (exactly $14,327,517) | GSQ Games |
 | Nightingale | · EA older | $29.99 | 15,338 66% | 460k | $14M (exactly $13,799,599) | Inflexion Games |
 | ELEX | older | $29.99 | 12,443 72% | 373k | $11M (exactly $11,194,967) | Piranha Bytes |
 | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition | $29.99 | 12,286 85% | 369k | $11M (exactly $11,053,714) | Relic Entertainment | |
 | Thronefall | $12.99 | 22,966 96% | 689k | $8.9M (exactly $8,949,850) | GrizzlyGames, Mythwright | |
 | Age of Darkness: Final Stand | $27.99 | 9,486 74% | 285k | $8.0M (exactly $7,965,394) | PlaySide | |
 | Pax Dei | $29.99 | 7,163 56% | 215k | $6.4M (exactly $6,444,551) | Mainframe Industries | |
 | Pioneers of Pagonia | $34.99 | 4,794 81% | 144k | $5.0M (exactly $5,032,262) | Envision Entertainment | |
 | The King is Watching | $14.99 | 9,006 88% | 270k | $4.0M (exactly $4,049,998) | Hypnohead | |
 | Mind Over Magic | $24.99 | 4,314 86% | 129k | $3.2M (exactly $3,234,206) | Sparkypants | |
 | Becastled | $19.99 | 5,349 81% | 160k | $3.2M (exactly $3,207,795) | Mana Potion Studios | |
 | Emberward | $19.99 | 3,775 96% | 113k | $2.3M (exactly $2,263,868) | Refic Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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