Games › Building › Building + Post-apocalyptic
Should I ship a Post-apocalyptic Building game?
Building + Post-apocalyptic
Of 130 developers who shipped a Post-apocalyptic 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.. 283 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $8.7k, ×14 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $3.3M, ×5352 the market median. Revenue is up 180% on the market; 283 games are announced against 76 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.4k (exactly $1,438) |
|---|---|
| Median | $8.7k (exactly $8,700) |
| Top 25% | $118k (exactly $117,516) |
| Top 5% | $3.4M (exactly $3,360,869) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 130 |
| Released games | 340 |
| Announced | 283 |
| 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 180% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, 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
- Post-apocalyptic
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Base Building, Survival, Exploration
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 110,732 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 6 in 10 of the 58 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 283 games are announced against 76 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 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
Rust 2018 · $1.4B 
7 Days to Die 2024 · $369M 
Project Zomboid 2013 · EA · $274M 
Frostpunk 2018 · $103M 
Kenshi 2018 · $89M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Rust | older | $39.99 | 1,167,920 87% | 35M | $1.4B (exactly $1,401,153,624) | Facepunch Studios |
| | 7 Days to Die | older | $44.99 | 273,589 87% | 8.2M | $369M (exactly $369,263,073) | The Fun Pimps |
| | Project Zomboid | · EA older | $24.99 | 364,830 94% | 11M | $274M (exactly $273,513,051) | The Indie Stone |
| | Frostpunk | older | $29.99 | 114,376 92% | 3.4M | $103M (exactly $102,904,087) | 11 bit studios |
| | Kenshi | older | $29.99 | 98,451 95% | 3.0M | $89M (exactly $88,576,365) | Lo-Fi Games |
 | They Are Billions | older | $29.99 | 46,223 85% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $41,586,833) | Numantian Games |
 | Timberborn | $34.99 | 38,529 95% | 1.2M | $40M (exactly $40,443,891) | Mechanistry | |
 | 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 |
 | Pacific Drive | older | $29.99 | 21,547 83% | 646k | $19M (exactly $19,385,836) | Ironwood Studios |
 | MISERY | $12.99 | 20,015 85% | 600k | $7.8M (exactly $7,799,846) | Platypus Entertainment | |
 | Space Haven | $24.99 | 10,267 85% | 308k | $7.7M (exactly $7,697,170) | Bugbyte Ltd. | |
 | Forever Skies | $29.99 | 8,138 78% | 244k | $7.3M (exactly $7,321,759) | Far From Home | |
 | Quarantine Zone: The Last Check | $19.99 | 11,827 81% | 355k | $7.1M (exactly $7,092,652) | Brigada Games | |
 | No One Survived | $16.99 | 6,969 64% | 209k | $3.6M (exactly $3,552,099) | Cat Play Studio | |
 | The Crust | $31.99 | 3,502 76% | 105k | $3.4M (exactly $3,360,869) | VEOM Studio | |
 | Flotsam | $24.99 | 4,308 80% | 129k | $3.2M (exactly $3,229,708) | Pajama Llama Games | |
 | I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival | $19.99 | 4,011 83% | 120k | $2.4M (exactly $2,405,397) | Mandragora | |
 | Doloc Town | $19.99 | 3,166 94% | 95k | $1.9M (exactly $1,898,650) | RedSaw Games Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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