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Should I ship a Mining Base Building game?
Base Building + Mining
Of 95 developers who shipped a Mining 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.. 200 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.1k, ×9.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.8k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.2M, ×1939 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 200 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) |
| Top 25% | $62k (exactly $62,338) |
| Top 5% | $1.2M (exactly $1,217,391) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 95 |
| Released games | 217 |
| Announced | 200 |
| 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 flat on the market, supply 115% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, 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
- Mining
- 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, Mining; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Sandbox, Crafting
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 23,469 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.8k. 7 in 10 of the 35 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 200 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 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
ICARUS 2021 · $59M 
Hydroneer 2020 · $12M 
Captain of Industry 2022 · EA · $12M 
Stationeers 2017 · EA · $9.0M 
Lightyear Frontier 2024 · EA · $3.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ICARUS | older | $34.99 | 55,849 75% | 1.7M | $59M (exactly $58,624,695) | RocketWerkz |
| | Hydroneer | older | $14.99 | 27,131 85% | 814k | $12M (exactly $12,200,811) | Foulball Hangover |
| | Captain of Industry | · EA older | $34.99 | 11,027 90% | 331k | $12M (exactly $11,575,042) | MaFi Games |
| | Stationeers | · EA older | $34.99 | 8,597 88% | 258k | $9.0M (exactly $9,024,271) | RocketWerkz |
| | Lightyear Frontier | · EA older | $24.99 | 4,257 83% | 128k | $3.2M (exactly $3,191,473) | FRAME BREAK |
 | Out of Ore | older | $24.99 | 3,978 85% | 119k | $3.0M (exactly $2,982,307) | North Modding Company AB |
 | SpaceBourne 2 | $19.99 | 4,951 75% | 149k | $3.0M (exactly $2,969,115) | Burak Dabak | |
 | CryoFall | older | $19.99 | 4,905 78% | 147k | $2.9M (exactly $2,941,528) | AtomicTorch Studio |
 | Occupy Mars: The Game | $29.99 | 2,714 68% | 81k | $2.4M (exactly $2,441,786) | ▲ Pyramid Games | |
 | Rising World | · EA older | $14.99 | 5,310 85% | 159k | $2.4M (exactly $2,387,907) | JIW-Games |
 | MineMogul | · EA | $14.99 | 4,330 96% | 130k | $1.9M (exactly $1,947,201) | NoodleForge (Gvarados & Diomonder) |
 | Starminer | · EA | $29.99 | 1,818 72% | 55k | $1.6M (exactly $1,635,655) | CoolAndGoodGames |
 | AETHUS | $19.99 | 2,030 94% | 61k | $1.2M (exactly $1,217,391) | Pawsmonaut Games | |
 | The Last Starship | $19.99 | 1,623 75% | 49k | $973k (exactly $973,313) | Introversion Software | |
 | Return from Core | $16.99 | 1,620 75% | 49k | $826k (exactly $825,714) | 顽核社 FuncoreClub | |
 | Orebound | · EA | $24.99 | 945 77% | 28k | $708k (exactly $708,466) | Emberforge |
 | The Spotter: Dig or Die | $12.99 | 1,792 84% | 54k | $698k (exactly $698,342) | Puppyroar Games | |
 | Ore Factory Squad ⛏️ | $12.99 | 1,646 87% | 49k | $641k (exactly $641,446) | threeW |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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