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Should I ship a Steampunk Base Building game?
Base Building + Steampunk
Only 15 developers shipped a Steampunk 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, Frostpunk 2, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 58 more are announced, ×4.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×2.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $28M, ×44858 the market median. Revenue is up 1195% on the market; 58 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $629 (exactly $629) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $19,780) |
| Top 5% | $28M (exactly $28,170,938) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 48 |
| Announced | 58 |
| 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 1195% on the market, supply 300% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, 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
- Steampunk
- 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; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, City Builder, Management
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $44.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $44.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 74% positive over 21,476 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 58 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.8 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
Frostpunk 2018 · $103M 
They Are Billions 2019 · $42M 
Frostpunk 2 2024 · $28M 
Iron Harvest 2020 · $11M 
Volcanoids 2019 · EA · $4.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Frostpunk | older | $29.99 | 114,376 92% | 3.4M | $103M (exactly $102,904,087) | 11 bit studios |
| | They Are Billions | older | $29.99 | 46,223 85% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $41,586,833) | Numantian Games |
| | Frostpunk 2 | $44.99 | 20,872 74% | 626k | $28M (exactly $28,170,938) | 11 bit studios | |
| | Iron Harvest | older | $29.99 | 11,682 74% | 350k | $11M (exactly $10,510,295) | KING Art |
| | Volcanoids | · EA older | $19.99 | 7,679 83% | 230k | $4.6M (exactly $4,605,096) | Volcanoid |
 | Black Skylands | older | $19.99 | 2,849 82% | 85k | $1.7M (exactly $1,708,545) | Hungry Couch Games |
 | Airborne Kingdom | older | $24.99 | 2,104 86% | 63k | $1.6M (exactly $1,577,369) | The Wandering Band LLC |
 | SteamWorld Build | older | $24.99 | 1,884 83% | 57k | $1.4M (exactly $1,412,435) | The Station |
 | Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles | older | $19.99 | 1,381 85% | 41k | $828k (exactly $828,186) | Tomas Sala |
 | Merchant of the Skies | older | $14.99 | 1,437 87% | 43k | $646k (exactly $646,219) | Coldwild Games |
 | Steel Artery: Train City Builder | $14.99 | 305 71% | 9.2k | $137k (exactly $137,158) | SoulAge23 | |
 | Exark | $14.99 | 99 73% | 3.0k | $45k (exactly $44,520) | Robot Cat Limited | |
 | Sea Walker Saga | · EA | $9.99 | 66 93% | 2.0k | $20k (exactly $19,780) | Antelus Games |
 | Demiurges | $14.99 | 36 88% | 1.1k | $16k (exactly $16,189) | Berih | |
 | HEXSTORM: Tears of Arcadia | $8.99 | 56 75% | 1.7k | $15k (exactly $15,103) | Tearevo | |
 | Drill Rift | $14.99 | 24 75% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | Steam Veil Games | |
 | Tilescape Defense | $4.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) | Kahvigames | |
 | Factory Train: DreamLine | $9.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | Unoptimized Bird | |
 | Steampunk Idle Spinner | $4.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | Airapport |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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