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Should I ship a Board Game Simulation game?
Simulation + Board Game
Of 196 developers who shipped a Board Game Simulation 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.. 182 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $540, ×0.9 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $120. Revenue is up 45% on the market; 182 games are announced against 128 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $538 (exactly $538) |
| Top 25% | $7.6k (exactly $7,645) |
| Top 5% | $259k (exactly $258,543) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 196 |
| Released games | 668 |
| Announced | 182 |
| 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 45% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Board Game
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Board Game; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Tabletop, Turn-Based Strategy
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 63,487 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 8 in 10 of the 93 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 182 games are announced against 128 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Tabletop Simulator 2015 · $28M 
Dorfromantik 2022 · $12M 
Liar's Bar 2024 · EA · $10M 
Ultimate General: Civil War 2017 · $7.5M 
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes 2015 · $6.4M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tabletop Simulator | older | $19.99 | 46,875 95% | 1.4M | $28M (exactly $28,110,937) | Berserk Games |
| | Dorfromantik | older | $13.99 | 27,441 96% | 823k | $12M (exactly $11,516,988) | Toukana Interactive |
| | Liar's Bar | · EA | $6.99 | 48,708 89% | 1.5M | $10M (exactly $10,214,068) | Curve Animation |
| | Ultimate General: Civil War | older | $29.99 | 8,331 88% | 250k | $7.5M (exactly $7,495,401) | Game-Labs |
| | Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes | older | $14.99 | 14,331 97% | 430k | $6.4M (exactly $6,444,651) | Steel Crate Games |
 | Cultist Simulator | older | $19.99 | 10,496 82% | 315k | $6.3M (exactly $6,294,451) | Weather Factory |
 | TaleSpire | · EA older | $24.99 | 4,391 89% | 132k | $3.3M (exactly $3,291,933) | Bouncyrock Entertainment |
 | Football, Tactics & Glory | older | $24.99 | 3,998 87% | 120k | $3.0M (exactly $2,997,301) | Creoteam |
 | Dune: Imperium | older | $22.99 | 3,806 94% | 114k | $2.6M (exactly $2,624,998) | Dire Wolf |
 | Niche - a genetics survival game | older | $17.99 | 4,356 88% | 131k | $2.4M (exactly $2,350,933) | Stray Fawn Studio |
 | Drop Duchy | $14.99 | 2,962 89% | 89k | $1.3M (exactly $1,332,011) | Sleepy Mill Studio | |
 | Guilty as Sock! | $5.50 | 4,836 89% | 145k | $798k (exactly $797,940) | Demon Max | |
 | Gambonanza | $14.99 | 1,604 74% | 48k | $721k (exactly $721,319) | Blukulélé | |
 | Stripjong - Super Real Mahjong Venus Returns | $29.99 | 740 80% | 22k | $666k (exactly $665,778) | ILLUMINATION | |
 | Supercar Collection Simulator | $12.99 | 1,528 85% | 46k | $595k (exactly $595,462) | Kiki Games | |
 | Let Them Trade | $17.99 | 1,070 84% | 32k | $577k (exactly $577,479) | Spaceflower | |
 | Walk of Life | $19.99 | 888 94% | 27k | $533k (exactly $532,534) | Porcelain Fortress | |
 | The Horror at Highrook | $19.99 | 461 90% | 14k | $276k (exactly $276,462) | Nullpointer Games | |
 | Preserve | $12.49 | 690 92% | 21k | $259k (exactly $258,543) | Bitmap Galaxy |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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