Games › Building › Building + Management
Should I ship a Building Management game?
Building + Management
Of 944 developers who shipped a Building Management 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.. 1,750 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $8.8k, ×14 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×2692 the market median. Revenue is up 20% on the market; 1,750 games are announced against 577 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,468) |
|---|---|
| Median | $8.8k (exactly $8,832) |
| Top 25% | $94k (exactly $94,437) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,690,536) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 944 |
| Released games | 2,347 |
| Announced | 1,750 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 50% 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
- Management
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building, Management; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Resource Management, Economy
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 544,296 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 6 in 10 of the 439 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 1,750 games are announced against 577 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016 · $497M 
RimWorld 2018 · $219M 
Factorio 2020 · $201M 
Cities: Skylines 2015 · $198M 
Schedule I 2025 · EA · $173M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI | older | $59.99 | 276,113 86% | 8.3M | $497M (exactly $496,920,566) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | RimWorld | older | $34.99 | 208,693 97% | 6.3M | $219M (exactly $219,065,042) | Ludeon Studios |
| | Factorio | older | $35.00 | 191,814 97% | 5.8M | $201M (exactly $201,404,700) | Wube Software LTD. |
| | Cities: Skylines | older | $29.99 | 220,465 92% | 6.6M | $198M (exactly $198,352,360) | Colossal Order |
| | Schedule I | · EA | $19.99 | 288,939 97% | 8.7M | $173M (exactly $173,276,718) | TVGS |
 | Planet Zoo | older | $44.99 | 81,191 90% | 2.4M | $110M (exactly $109,583,493) | Frontier Developments |
 | Frostpunk | older | $29.99 | 114,376 92% | 3.4M | $103M (exactly $102,904,087) | 11 bit studios |
 | Oxygen Not Included | older | $24.99 | 135,337 96% | 4.1M | $101M (exactly $101,462,149) | Klei Entertainment |
 | Cities: Skylines II | older | $49.99 | 64,211 57% | 1.9M | $96M (exactly $96,297,237) | Iceflake Studios, Colossal Order |
 | Manor Lords | · EA older | $39.99 | 76,884 84% | 2.3M | $92M (exactly $92,237,735) | Slavic Magic |
 | Supermarket Simulator | $19.99 | 79,236 92% | 2.4M | $48M (exactly $47,517,829) | Nokta Games | |
 | Timberborn | $34.99 | 38,529 95% | 1.2M | $40M (exactly $40,443,891) | Mechanistry | |
 | Farming Simulator 25 | $29.99 | 39,681 87% | 1.2M | $36M (exactly $35,700,996) | GIANTS Software | |
 | Farthest Frontier | $34.99 | 24,444 86% | 733k | $26M (exactly $25,658,867) | Crate Entertainment | |
 | Foundation | $34.99 | 23,037 86% | 691k | $24M (exactly $24,181,939) | Polymorph Games | |
 | Anno 117: Pax Romana | $59.99 | 12,150 69% | 365k | $22M (exactly $21,866,355) | Ubisoft Mainz | |
 | Jurassic World Evolution 3 | $59.99 | 11,387 93% | 342k | $20M (exactly $20,493,184) | Frontier Developments | |
 | Planet Coaster 2 | $49.99 | 13,047 74% | 391k | $20M (exactly $19,566,586) | Frontier Developments | |
 | shapez 2 - Factory | $29.99 | 13,846 96% | 415k | $12M (exactly $12,457,246) | tobspr Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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