Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Base Building

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Base Building Flight game?

Flight + Base Building

Of 23 developers who shipped a Base Building Flight 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.. 48 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $17k, ×28 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $810; 1 in 20 cleared $1.8M, ×2949 the market median. Revenue is up 105% on the market; 48 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 27.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 105% on the market, 48 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Base Building
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 23
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $11k → $17k → $53k → $54k (still earning) → $15k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Base Building: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 23
Bottom 30% $807 (exactly $807)
Median $17k (exactly $17,391)
Top 25% $766k (exactly $766,289)
Top 5% $1.9M (exactly $1,851,759)
Developers, 2 yr 23
Released games 60
Announced 48
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $14.99

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 105% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, 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.

Flight
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Base Building
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
Flight, Base Building; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Economy, Management, Sandbox
Price point
$14.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.

The top 10 games average 75% positive over 13,567 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $810, median $17k, 1 in 4 over $760k, 1 in 20 over $1.8M.

3 in 10 developers made under $810. 7 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair9 devs · median $2.4k · 11 announced
  2. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $1.3k · 10 announced
  3. + Quick-Time EventsFair9 devs · median $657 · 9 announced
  4. + CatsFair6 devs · median $629 · 10 announced
  5. + Life SimPoor odds12 devs · median $70k · 29 announced
  6. + TradingPoor odds6 devs · median $36k · 21 announced
  7. + MiningPoor odds10 devs · median $35k · 13 announced
  8. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $19k · 57 announced
  9. + EconomyPoor odds20 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  10. + RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $15k · 18 announced
  11. + Cold WarPoor odds10 devs · median $11k · 16 announced
  12. + BuildingPoor odds26 devs · median $9.7k · 67 announced

All 132 pairs on the Flight page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Stormworks: Build and Rescue 2020 · $41M Airport CEO 2021 · $5.8M Starpoint Gemini Warlords 2017 · $3.2M SpaceBourne 2 2025 · $3.0M SimAirport 2020 · $2.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Stormworks: Build and Rescue older $24.99 54,649 90% 1.6M $41M (exactly $40,970,355) Geometa
Airport CEO older $24.99 7,752 83% 233k $5.8M (exactly $5,811,674) Apog Labs
Starpoint Gemini Warlords older $34.99 3,076 72% 92k $3.2M (exactly $3,228,877) Little Green Men Games
SpaceBourne 2 $19.99 4,951 75% 149k $3.0M (exactly $2,969,115) Burak Dabak
SimAirport older $24.99 3,909 79% 117k $2.9M (exactly $2,930,577) LVGameDev LLC
Lost Skies $24.99 2,470 63% 74k $1.9M (exactly $1,851,759) Bossa Studios
Juno: New Origins older $19.99 3,085 89% 93k $1.9M (exactly $1,850,074) Jundroo, LLC
Starminer · EA $29.99 1,818 72% 55k $1.6M (exactly $1,635,655) CoolAndGoodGames
Ground of Aces · EA $29.99 1,415 84% 42k $1.3M (exactly $1,273,076) Blindflug Studios AG
ICBM older $19.99 1,655 91% 50k $993k (exactly $992,503) SoftWarWare, K-Project
Solargene $34.99 777 77% 23k $816k (exactly $815,617) Alexander Semenov
Vietnam War · EA $14.99 1,704 84% 51k $766k (exactly $766,289) Thorium Game Lab
Lou's Lagoon $24.99 126 75% 3.8k $94k (exactly $94,462) Tiny Roar
Terminal One $19.99 96 66% 2.9k $58k (exactly $57,571) Terminal Reality
Airport Baggage Simulator $17.99 100 92% 3.0k $54k (exactly $53,970) Three River Games (3RG)
I Fetch Rocks $15.99 110 94% 3.3k $53k (exactly $52,767) SarumXR

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