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Should I ship a Time Manipulation Base Building game?
Base Building + Time Manipulation
Only 14 developers shipped a Time Manipulation 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, Cube Chaos, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 25 more are announced, ×4.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.3k, ×3.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $220k, ×356 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 25 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $628 (exactly $628) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.3k (exactly $2,307) |
| Top 25% | $6.1k (exactly $6,105) |
| Top 5% | $223k (exactly $223,374) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 32 |
| Announced | 25 |
| 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 down 70% on the market, supply 25% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, 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
- Time Manipulation
- 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, Time Manipulation
- Price point
- $6.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 896 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 8 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 25 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.2 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
F1® Manager 2024 2024 · $5.8M 
ICBM 2020 · $993k 
Cube Chaos 2025 · $223k 
PERIMETER: Legate Edition 2024 · $43k 
Oasis Mission: Colony Sim 2025 · $41k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | F1® Manager 2024 | older | $34.99 | 5,554 83% | 167k | $5.8M (exactly $5,830,034) | Frontier Developments |
| | ICBM | older | $19.99 | 1,655 91% | 50k | $993k (exactly $992,503) | SoftWarWare, K-Project |
| | Cube Chaos | $11.99 | 621 95% | 19k | $223k (exactly $223,374) | Wunarg | |
| | PERIMETER: Legate Edition | older | $9.99 | 143 92% | 4.3k | $43k (exactly $42,857) | K-D Lab |
| | Oasis Mission: Colony Sim | $14.99 | 91 56% | 2.7k | $41k (exactly $40,923) | Lunar pug studio | |
 | Natti | · EA older | $7.99 | 109 58% | 3.3k | $26k (exactly $26,127) | 4DAYS LAB Co., Ltd. |
 | Omnibullet | older | $11.99 | 36 100% | 1.1k | $13k (exactly $12,949) | Arbitrary Combination |
 | Happy Monster | · EA | $8.99 | 41 82% | 1.2k | $11k (exactly $11,058) | Destined Game Studio |
 | Be | · EA older | $12.99 | 26 76% | 780 | $10k (exactly $10,132) | shinywhitebox ltd |
 | Hot Springs | 温泉 (Onsen) | $3.99 | 51 74% | 1.5k | $6.1k (exactly $6,105) | Peach Party | |
 | Arcade Empire Tycoon | $4.99 | 25 68% | 750 | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) | Mind Inside Games | |
 | Golden Rails: The heart of the state | $6.99 | 15 93% | 450 | $3.1k (exactly $3,146) | Alawar Casual | |
 | Rescue Team: Ancient Guardian | $6.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $2.3k (exactly $2,307) | Game Mixer | |
 | Rescue Team: Attack of the Atom | $6.99 | 11 90% | 330 | $2.3k (exactly $2,307) | Game Mixer | |
 | Age of Damnation | $6.99 | 6 33% | 180 | $1.3k (exactly $1,258) | WukaStudio | |
 | Hardware Store & Workshop Simulator | · EA | $0.99 | 24 79% | 720 | $713 (exactly $713) | Superwolf Game Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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