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Should I ship a Tabletop Base Building game?
Base Building + Tabletop
Of 25 developers who shipped a Tabletop 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.. 31 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.5k, ×4.0 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $43k, ×70 the market median. Revenue is up 660% on the market; 31 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.5k (exactly $2,514) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $20,135) |
| Top 5% | $44k (exactly $43,756) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 54 |
| Announced | 31 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 660% on the market, supply 10% fewer 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
- Tabletop
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Base Building, Tabletop; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Building, City Builder
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Dark Humor
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 1,435 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 31 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 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
Dungeon Alchemist 2022 · EA · $3.6M 
Terraforming Mars 2018 · $3.1M 
Everdell 2022 · $346k 
Archmage Rises 2023 · EA · $176k 
The Banished Vault 2023 · $142k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dungeon Alchemist | · EA older | $44.99 | 2,666 94% | 80k | $3.6M (exactly $3,598,300) | Briganti |
| | Terraforming Mars | older | $19.99 | 5,194 71% | 156k | $3.1M (exactly $3,114,842) | Artefacts Studio |
| | Everdell | older | $19.99 | 577 90% | 17k | $346k (exactly $346,027) | Dire Wolf |
| | Archmage Rises | · EA older | $14.99 | 392 68% | 12k | $176k (exactly $176,282) | Defiance Game Studio |
| | The Banished Vault | older | $24.99 | 189 78% | 5.7k | $142k (exactly $141,693) | Lunar Division |
 | Battle On! Hero Academy | $4.99 | 756 83% | 23k | $113k (exactly $113,173) | MMUnit | |
 | Defend the Rook | older | $17.99 | 189 73% | 5.7k | $102k (exactly $102,003) | One Up Plus |
 | Lower? Higher! | $9.99 | 146 67% | 4.4k | $44k (exactly $43,756) | Unplugged Studio | |
 | Amberspire | $24.99 | 58 86% | 1.7k | $43k (exactly $43,483) | Lunar Division | |
 | Toads of the Bayou | $9.99 | 137 72% | 4.1k | $41k (exactly $41,059) | La Grange | |
 | The Deadly Path | $12.99 | 84 39% | 2.5k | $33k (exactly $32,735) | Owlskip Enterprises | |
 | SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD | $9.99 | 73 83% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,878) | Logix Interactive | |
 | Hexagod | · EA | $7.99 | 84 88% | 2.5k | $20k (exactly $20,135) | Aarimous |
 | Areteion | $19.99 | 17 94% | 510 | $10k (exactly $10,195) | juxtapositioned | |
 | AI Faith: Compute [>_AIFC] | $4.99 | 55 81% | 1.7k | $8.2k (exactly $8,234) | Beneloop.ai | |
 | CrafTAE | $7.99 | 25 88% | 750 | $6.0k (exactly $5,992) | mappe |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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