Games › Building › Building + Female Protagonist
Should I ship a Female-Led Building game?
Building + Female Protagonist
Of 48 developers who shipped a Female-Led 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.. 94 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.4k, ×5.5 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $4.0M, ×6447 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 94 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $839 (exactly $839) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.4k (exactly $3,443) |
| Top 25% | $178k (exactly $178,111) |
| Top 5% | $4.0M (exactly $4,048,575) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 48 |
| Released games | 179 |
| Announced | 94 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $10.00 |
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 95% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Female Protagonist
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Crafting, Exploration
- Price point
- $10.00 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, Colorful, Cozy
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $10.00.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 69,909 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $840. 5 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 94 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Building with a different setting or mood, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition | older | $29.99 | 47,176 94% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,444,247) | Thunder Lotus |
| | Slime Rancher 2 | $29.99 | 43,590 94% | 1.3M | $39M (exactly $39,217,923) | Monomi Park | |
| | My Time at Portia | older | $29.99 | 34,844 91% | 1.0M | $31M (exactly $31,349,147) | Pathea Games |
| | My Time at Sandrock | older | $39.99 | 24,110 88% | 723k | $29M (exactly $28,924,767) | Pathea Games |
| | Evil Genius 2: World Domination | older | $39.99 | 11,255 69% | 338k | $14M (exactly $13,502,624) | Rebellion |
| | Farm Together | older | $19.99 | 17,647 93% | 529k | $11M (exactly $10,582,906) | Milkstone Studios |
| | Construction Simulator | older | $24.99 | 10,606 82% | 318k | $8.0M (exactly $7,951,318) | weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH |
| | ASKA | · EA older | $24.99 | 10,457 79% | 314k | $7.8M (exactly $7,839,613) | Sand Sailor Studio |
| | Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma | $59.99 | 2,947 88% | 88k | $5.3M (exactly $5,303,716) | Marvelous Inc. | |
| | Backpack Hero | older | $19.99 | 7,423 85% | 223k | $4.5M (exactly $4,451,573) | Jaspel |
| | Streamer Life Simulator 2 | $19.99 | 6,751 81% | 203k | $4.0M (exactly $4,048,575) | Cheesecake Dev | |
| | Doloc Town | $19.99 | 3,166 94% | 95k | $1.9M (exactly $1,898,650) | RedSaw Games Studio | |
| | ContractVille | $9.99 | 5,593 80% | 168k | $1.7M (exactly $1,676,222) | MYM Games Studios | |
| | Crashlands 2 | $24.99 | 2,202 88% | 66k | $1.7M (exactly $1,650,839) | Butterscotch Shenanigans | |
| | Wicked Island | · EA | $34.99 | 1,194 76% | 36k | $1.3M (exactly $1,253,342) | RawDarkness |
| | AETHUS | $19.99 | 2,030 94% | 61k | $1.2M (exactly $1,217,391) | Pawsmonaut Games | |
| | Little Rocket Lab | $19.99 | 1,286 90% | 39k | $771k (exactly $771,214) | Teenage Astronauts | |
| | Camper Van: Make it Home | $14.99 | 1,150 91% | 35k | $517k (exactly $517,155) | Malapata Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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