Do I ship it?

Games › Building › Building + Programming

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Building Programming game?

Building + Programming

Of 35 developers who shipped a Building Programming 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.. 59 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $10k, ×16 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $780k, ×1257 the market median. Revenue is up 1185% on the market; 59 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 15.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 1185% on the market, 59 announced, ×2.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Building + Programming
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 35
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.9k → $52k → $3.3k → $1.1k → $1.8k → $12k → $19k (still earning) → $628 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Building + Programming: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 35
Bottom 30% $628 (exactly $628)
Median $10k (exactly $9,960)
Top 25% $76k (exactly $76,098)
Top 5% $789k (exactly $789,205)
Developers, 2 yr 35
Released games 133
Announced 59
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 1185% on the market, supply 70% 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
Programming
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Building, Programming; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Automation, Sandbox, Simulation
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 83% positive over 6,293 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $630, median $10k, 1 in 4 over $76k, 1 in 20 over $780k.

3 in 10 developers made under $630. 7 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 59 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Building with a different second tag, 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

Stormworks: Build and Rescue 2020 · $41M Starbase 2021 · EA · $6.5M Mad Games Tycoon 2 2023 · $5.5M Software Inc. 2015 · EA · $5.2M Opus Magnum 2017 · $3.6M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Stormworks: Build and Rescue older $24.99 54,649 90% 1.6M $41M (exactly $40,970,355) Geometa
Starbase · EA older $34.99 6,217 56% 187k $6.5M (exactly $6,525,985) Frozenbyte
Mad Games Tycoon 2 older $24.99 7,355 93% 221k $5.5M (exactly $5,514,044) Eggcode
Software Inc. · EA older $22.99 7,576 94% 227k $5.2M (exactly $5,225,167) Coredumping
Opus Magnum older $19.99 5,964 97% 179k $3.6M (exactly $3,576,611) Zachtronics
Turing Complete · EA older $19.99 5,520 95% 166k $3.3M (exactly $3,310,344) LevelHead
while True: learn() older $12.99 7,350 91% 221k $2.9M (exactly $2,864,295) Luden.io
Autonauts older $19.99 3,596 90% 108k $2.2M (exactly $2,156,521) Denki
Juno: New Origins older $19.99 3,085 89% 93k $1.9M (exactly $1,850,074) Jundroo, LLC
Desynced $29.99 1,879 79% 56k $1.7M (exactly $1,690,536) Stage Games Inc.
SimplePlanes 2 · EA $19.99 1,316 92% 39k $789k (exactly $789,205) Jundroo, LLC
Kaizen: A Factory Story $19.99 694 91% 21k $416k (exactly $416,192) Coincidence
Omega Crafter $24.99 529 77% 16k $397k (exactly $396,591) Preferred Networks
Data Center $8.99 916 76% 27k $247k (exactly $247,045) Waseku
Craftlings $19.99 311 86% 9.3k $187k (exactly $186,507) ARIANO Games GmbH
Code: Terraform · EA $14.99 252 85% 7.6k $113k (exactly $113,324) AppsMafia
MegaFactory Titan $19.99 150 76% 4.5k $90k (exactly $89,955) Q Switched Productions, LLC
Quantum Odyssey · EA $17.99 141 92% 4.2k $76k (exactly $76,098) Quarks Interactive
Screeps: Arena $19.99 105 82% 3.2k $63k (exactly $62,968) Screeps, LLC

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