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Should I ship a Building Collectathon game?
Building + Collectathon
Of 94 developers who shipped a Building Collectathon 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.. 115 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.9k, ×6.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $570k, ×922 the market median. Revenue is up 60% on the market; 115 games are announced against 57 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $719 (exactly $719) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.9k (exactly $3,892) |
| Top 25% | $22k (exactly $21,666) |
| Top 5% | $579k (exactly $578,757) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 94 |
| Released games | 199 |
| Announced | 115 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 60% on the market, supply 55% 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.
- Building
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Collectathon
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building, Collectathon; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Management, Sandbox
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, Cute, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 20,307 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 7 in 10 of the 42 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 115 games are announced against 57 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + CatsFair
- + TabletopFair
- + Grid-Based MovementFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + Vehicular CombatPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + CrimePoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
Comparable games
Cookie Clicker 2021 · $13M 
Travellers Rest 2020 · EA · $8.9M 
SimplePlanes 2015 · $3.8M 
Littlewood 2020 · $2.7M 
Star Birds 2025 · EA · $1.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Cookie Clicker | older | $4.99 | 87,916 96% | 2.6M | $13M (exactly $13,161,025) | Orteil, DashNet |
| | Travellers Rest | · EA older | $17.99 | 16,538 87% | 496k | $8.9M (exactly $8,925,559) | Isolated Games |
| | SimplePlanes | older | $12.99 | 9,811 93% | 294k | $3.8M (exactly $3,823,347) | Jundroo, LLC |
| | Littlewood | older | $14.99 | 6,083 93% | 182k | $2.7M (exactly $2,735,525) | Sean Young |
| | Star Birds | · EA | $19.99 | 2,990 92% | 90k | $1.8M (exactly $1,793,103) | Toukana Interactive |
 | Outpath | older | $14.99 | 2,898 92% | 87k | $1.3M (exactly $1,303,231) | David Moralejo Sánchez |
 | Teddy's Haven | · EA | $14.99 | 2,800 95% | 84k | $1.3M (exactly $1,259,160) | Teddy Bear Games LLC |
 | Farlands | $17.99 | 1,628 89% | 49k | $879k (exactly $878,632) | JanduSoft, Eric Rodríguez | |
 | Garden Galaxy | older | $9.99 | 2,472 97% | 74k | $741k (exactly $740,858) | Anneka Tran |
 | Digseum | $2.99 | 8,033 97% | 241k | $721k (exactly $720,560) | Rat Monthly | |
 | Card Shop Simulator Multiplayer | $11.99 | 1,609 82% | 48k | $579k (exactly $578,757) | ShaneGame | |
 | holoVillage: Our Cozy Days | $24.99 | 518 83% | 16k | $388k (exactly $388,345) | Roboqlo | |
 | Farming & Supermarket Simulator | $11.99 | 835 79% | 25k | $300k (exactly $300,350) | EY08 Games | |
 | World End Diner | $16.99 | 415 93% | 12k | $212k (exactly $211,525) | Andymente | |
 | My Little Life | $5.99 | 1,043 89% | 31k | $187k (exactly $187,427) | 9FingerGames | |
 | Rewind 99 | $11.99 | 436 69% | 13k | $157k (exactly $156,829) | Gunmetal Games, Real Fake Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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