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Should I ship a Hidden Object Base Building game?
Base Building + Hidden Object
Only 16 developers shipped a Hidden Object 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, Neighbors: Suburban Warfare, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 27 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.4k, ×7.0 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $570k, ×910 the market median. Revenue is up 45% on the market; 27 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.4k (exactly $4,404) |
| Top 25% | $85k (exactly $85,157) |
| Top 5% | $571k (exactly $571,228) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 40 |
| Announced | 27 |
| 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 45% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, 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
- Hidden Object
- effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Base Building, Hidden Object; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 70% positive over 3,747 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 6 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 27 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Base Building with a different second tag, 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
Neighbors: Suburban Warfare 2025 · EA · $571k 
holoVillage: Our Cozy Days 2026 · $388k 
Dead District: Survival 2023 · $124k 
The Last FARMER 2024 · $101k 
Frozen Ship 2026 · EA · $85k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Neighbors: Suburban Warfare | · EA | $9.99 | 1,906 66% | 57k | $571k (exactly $571,228) | Invisible Walls |
| | holoVillage: Our Cozy Days | $24.99 | 518 83% | 16k | $388k (exactly $388,345) | Roboqlo | |
| | Dead District: Survival | older | $9.99 | 415 48% | 12k | $124k (exactly $124,376) | BadBit Games |
| | The Last FARMER | $12.99 | 258 56% | 7.7k | $101k (exactly $100,543) | Geekon | |
| | Frozen Ship | · EA | $19.99 | 142 76% | 4.3k | $85k (exactly $85,157) | Nionetix |
 | iDigging | $2.99 | 729 69% | 22k | $65k (exactly $65,391) | TWEN | |
 | Survival: Lost Way | older | $6.99 | 242 34% | 7.3k | $51k (exactly $50,747) | SimplePlan |
 | LAN Party Adventures | $14.99 | 93 89% | 2.8k | $42k (exactly $41,822) | LEAP Game Studios | |
 | Russian Village Simulator on Mars | $15.99 | 58 77% | 1.7k | $28k (exactly $27,823) | VD Games, PropilGames | |
 | Arctic Anxiety | · EA older | $2.99 | 285 55% | 8.6k | $26k (exactly $25,565) | Arctic Studio |
 | Primage | · EA | $6.99 | 21 76% | 630 | $4.4k (exactly $4,404) | Fadzior |
 | Forsaken Valley | $9.99 | 12 91% | 360 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | KineticFox | |
 | Galdia | · EA | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | Shergaze Castle |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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