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Should I ship a Puzzle Base Building game?
Base Building + Puzzle
Of 73 developers who shipped a Puzzle 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.. 110 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×3.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $290k, ×475 the market median. Revenue is up 225% on the market; 110 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $446 (exactly $446) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,248) |
| Top 25% | $18k (exactly $17,538) |
| Top 5% | $299k (exactly $298,601) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 73 |
| Released games | 200 |
| Announced | 110 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 225% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, 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
- Puzzle
- effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Base Building, Puzzle; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Simulation, Strategy
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, 3D, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 20,921 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 9 in 10 of the 34 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 110 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 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
shapez 2 - Factory 2026 · $12M 
shapez 2020 · $4.3M 
Survival: Fountain of Youth 2024 · $3.4M 
Turing Complete 2021 · EA · $3.3M 
Reus 2 2024 · $1.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | shapez 2 - Factory | $29.99 | 13,846 96% | 415k | $12M (exactly $12,457,246) | tobspr Games | |
| | shapez | older | $9.99 | 14,252 96% | 428k | $4.3M (exactly $4,271,324) | Tobias Springer |
| | Survival: Fountain of Youth | older | $27.99 | 4,095 85% | 123k | $3.4M (exactly $3,438,572) | Odinsoft Inc. |
| | Turing Complete | · EA older | $19.99 | 5,520 95% | 166k | $3.3M (exactly $3,310,344) | LevelHead |
| | Reus 2 | older | $24.99 | 2,133 94% | 64k | $1.6M (exactly $1,599,110) | Abbey Games |
 | Parcel Simulator | $17.99 | 2,804 93% | 84k | $1.5M (exactly $1,513,319) | Dansan Digital | |
 | RAILGRADE | older | $29.99 | 1,205 84% | 36k | $1.1M (exactly $1,084,138) | Minakata Dynamics |
 | Big Pharma | older | $24.99 | 1,443 78% | 43k | $1.1M (exactly $1,081,817) | Twice Circled |
 | Patch Quest | older | $14.99 | 2,058 94% | 62k | $925k (exactly $925,483) | Lychee Game Labs |
 | ShapeHero Factory | $23.99 | 991 88% | 30k | $713k (exactly $713,223) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
 | Dawnfolk | $14.99 | 664 94% | 20k | $299k (exactly $298,601) | Darenn Keller | |
 | MINOS | $17.99 | 544 88% | 16k | $294k (exactly $293,597) | Artificer | |
 | Craftomation 101: Programming & Craft | $14.99 | 636 83% | 19k | $286k (exactly $286,009) | Luden.io | |
 | Preserve | $12.49 | 690 92% | 21k | $259k (exactly $258,543) | Bitmap Galaxy | |
 | MoteMancer | · EA | $29.99 | 243 91% | 7.3k | $219k (exactly $218,627) | CyanAvatar Studios |
 | Code: Terraform | · EA | $14.99 | 252 85% | 7.6k | $113k (exactly $113,324) | AppsMafia |
 | Block Factory | $9.99 | 251 77% | 7.5k | $75k (exactly $75,225) | OverPowered Team |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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