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Should I ship a Pirate Base Building game?
Base Building + Pirates
Only 8 developers shipped a Pirate 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, Windrose, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 32 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $17k, ×28 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.4k; 1 in 20 cleared $43M, ×68614 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 32 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.3k (exactly $1,347) |
|---|---|
| Median | $17k (exactly $17,383) |
| Top 25% | $3.6M (exactly $3,630,292) |
| Top 5% | $43M (exactly $43,089,332) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 8 |
| Released games | 39 |
| Announced | 32 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $19.99 |
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: too few recent games to read.
Free games: 21%, 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
- Pirates
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Base Building
- Price point
- $19.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.
The top 10 games average 69% positive over 94,533 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.4k. 32 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 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
Windrose 2026 · EA · $43M 
ATLAS 2018 · EA · $33M 
Corsair Cove 2026 · $3.6M 
Out of Reach 2018 · $1.1M 
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles 2024 · $828k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Windrose | · EA | $29.99 | 47,893 86% | 1.4M | $43M (exactly $43,089,332) | Kraken Express |
| | ATLAS | · EA older | $29.99 | 37,119 46% | 1.1M | $33M (exactly $33,395,964) | Grapeshot Games, Instinct Games |
| | Corsair Cove | $39.99 | 3,026 85% | 91k | $3.6M (exactly $3,630,292) | Limbic Entertainment | |
| | Out of Reach | older | $14.99 | 2,390 54% | 72k | $1.1M (exactly $1,074,783) | Space Boat Studios |
| | Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles | older | $19.99 | 1,381 85% | 41k | $828k (exactly $828,186) | Tomas Sala |
 | Forgotten Seas | $24.99 | 475 75% | 14k | $356k (exactly $356,108) | Pangea Game Studios | |
 | Buoyancy | · EA older | $12.99 | 808 54% | 24k | $315k (exactly $314,878) | Devs on a Boat |
 | Republic of Pirates | older | $24.99 | 420 70% | 13k | $315k (exactly $314,874) | Crazy Goat Games |
 | Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity® | older | $9.99 | 687 78% | 21k | $206k (exactly $205,894) | Ironclad Games Corporation, Stardock En… (Ironclad Games Corporation, Stardock Entertainment) |
 | Autonauts vs Piratebots | older | $19.99 | 334 80% | 10k | $200k (exactly $200,300) | Denki |
 | Resort Island Simulator | $9.99 | 58 74% | 1.7k | $17k (exactly $17,383) | Tenjin Games | |
 | Deep Space Outpost | $15.99 | 32 71% | 960 | $15k (exactly $15,350) | Niris Games | |
 | Girl Island | · EA | $4.99 | 9 66% | 270 | $1.3k (exactly $1,347) | Little Fish Studio |
 | Mutiny's Wake | · EA | $19.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | Apollo DevLabs |
 | Leonardo's Island - Origins | $3.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $359 (exactly $359) | Danilec |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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