Do I ship it?

Games › Building › Building + Dinosaurs

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Dinosaur Building game?

Building + Dinosaurs

Only 13 developers shipped a Dinosaur 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, Jurassic World Evolution 3, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 32 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $8.5k, ×14 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $20M, ×32632 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 32 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 13.6 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 32 announced, ×2.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Building + Dinosaurs
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 13
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $484k → $2.8k → $1.2k → $2.7k (still earning) → $58k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Building + Dinosaurs: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 13
Bottom 30% $1.1k (exactly $1,079)
Median $8.5k (exactly $8,544)
Top 25% $71k (exactly $70,603)
Top 5% $20M (exactly $20,493,184)
Developers, 2 yr 13
Released games 45
Announced 32
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $13.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 450% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Dinosaurs
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Building
Price point
$13.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 12,263 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $1.1k, median $8.5k, 1 in 4 over $70k, 1 in 20 over $20M.

3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 32 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Building with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Job SimulatorStrong odds66 devs · median $28k · 70 announced
  2. + CatsFair52 devs · median $4.5k · 59 announced
  3. + TabletopFair56 devs · median $1.9k · 58 announced
  4. + Grid-Based MovementFair50 devs · median $719 · 57 announced
  5. + Interactive FictionFair17 devs · median $449 · 20 announced
  6. + Vehicular CombatPoor odds14 devs · median $303k · 40 announced
  7. + JRPGPoor odds10 devs · median $89k · 20 announced
  8. + Dating SimPoor odds28 devs · median $85k · 61 announced
  9. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds112 devs · median $71k · 251 announced
  10. + Real-TimePoor odds14 devs · median $62k · 20 announced
  11. + CrimePoor odds13 devs · median $55k · 52 announced
  12. + SailingPoor odds13 devs · median $52k · 40 announced

All 210 pairs on the Building page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

ARK: Survival Evolved 2017 · $264M ARK: Survival Ascended 2023 · EA · $144M Jurassic World Evolution 2 2021 · $71M Jurassic World Evolution 2018 · $65M Jurassic World Evolution 3 2025 · $20M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
ARK: Survival Evolved older $14.99 586,768 83% 18M $264M (exactly $263,869,570) Studio Wildcard, Instinct Games, Efecto… (Studio Wildcard, Instinct Games, Efecto Studios, Virtual Basement LLC)
ARK: Survival Ascended · EA older $44.99 106,761 60% 3.2M $144M (exactly $144,095,322) Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, In… (Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, Instinct Games)
Jurassic World Evolution 2 older $59.99 39,644 90% 1.2M $71M (exactly $71,347,307) Frontier Developments
Jurassic World Evolution older $44.99 48,311 87% 1.4M $65M (exactly $65,205,357) Frontier Developments
Jurassic World Evolution 3 $59.99 11,387 93% 342k $20M (exactly $20,493,184) Frontier Developments
PixARK older $19.99 11,142 73% 334k $6.7M (exactly $6,681,857) Snail Games USA
Prehistoric Kingdom · EA older $29.99 5,640 90% 169k $5.1M (exactly $5,074,308) Blue Meridian
LEGO® Jurassic World older $19.99 7,797 92% 234k $4.7M (exactly $4,675,861) TT Games Ltd
Let's Build a Zoo older $19.99 3,722 89% 112k $2.2M (exactly $2,232,083) Springloaded
Parkasaurus older $24.99 2,731 92% 82k $2.0M (exactly $2,047,431) Washbear Studio
Tamer: King of Dinosaurs · EA $24.99 347 86% 10k $260k (exactly $260,146) Ride the Lion Studios
Repterra $19.99 122 90% 3.7k $73k (exactly $73,163) Chute Apps
Dinosaur World · EA $14.99 157 61% 4.7k $71k (exactly $70,603) Dinosaur Studio
Spirit Animal Survival $19.99 96 62% 2.9k $58k (exactly $57,571) TRUEFX GAMES
Bean Beasts $13.99 113 89% 3.4k $47k (exactly $47,426) Anxious Noob
Dinosaur $14.99 19 73% 570 $8.5k (exactly $8,544) Dinosaur Master
Curation $5.99 15 93% 450 $2.7k (exactly $2,696) Circle Back Games
Breathbound $9.99 4 50% 120 $1.2k (exactly $1,199) 十年
Museum Magnate · EA $11.99 3 66% 90 $1.1k (exactly $1,079) Three Dragons s.r.o.

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.