Games › Building › Building + Spaceships
Should I ship a Spaceship Building game?
Building + Spaceships
Only 14 developers shipped a Spaceship 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, Ostranauts, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 16 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.3k, ×10 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $1.8M, ×2996 the market median. Revenue is up 685% on the market; 16 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $719 (exactly $719) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.3k (exactly $6,296) |
| Top 25% | $22k (exactly $21,923) |
| Top 5% | $1.9M (exactly $1,881,259) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 33 |
| Announced | 16 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 685% on the market, supply as many developers as 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
- Spaceships
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Automation, Economy
- Price point
- $11.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.
The top 10 games average 76% positive over 4,258 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 7 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 16 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 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
Avorion 2020 · $9.7M 
Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander 2022 · EA · $7.2M 
Spaceflight Simulator 2022 · EA · $4.2M 
Ostranauts 2026 · $1.9M 
Starship EVO 2020 · EA · $991k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Avorion | older | $24.99 | 13,001 90% | 390k | $9.7M (exactly $9,746,850) | Boxelware |
| | Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander | · EA older | $19.99 | 12,013 94% | 360k | $7.2M (exactly $7,204,196) | Walternate Realities |
| | Spaceflight Simulator | · EA older | $14.99 | 9,431 96% | 283k | $4.2M (exactly $4,241,121) | Team Curiosity ✦ |
| | Ostranauts | $19.99 | 3,137 77% | 94k | $1.9M (exactly $1,881,259) | Blue Bottle Games | |
| | Starship EVO | · EA older | $24.99 | 1,322 82% | 40k | $991k (exactly $991,103) | Moonfire Entertainment |
 | Stellar Settlers: Space Base Builder | $11.99 | 744 69% | 22k | $268k (exactly $267,617) | Tinymice Entertainment | |
 | Gratuitous Space Battles | older | $14.99 | 568 72% | 17k | $255k (exactly $255,430) | Positech Games |
 | Sunshine Heavy Industries | older | $14.99 | 415 99% | 12k | $187k (exactly $186,626) | Rocket Rat Games |
 | Star Vortex | · EA | $24.99 | 154 84% | 4.6k | $115k (exactly $115,454) | Zorg Games |
 | The Spatials: Galactology | older | $12.99 | 232 68% | 7.0k | $90k (exactly $90,410) | Weird and Wry |
 | Desk Space: Idle Spacefleet clicker | $5.99 | 122 70% | 3.7k | $22k (exactly $21,923) | Shotgun Anaconda | |
 | eXoSpace Combat Engineer | · EA | $14.99 | 44 81% | 1.3k | $20k (exactly $19,787) | Fantastimaker |
 | Fleetbreakers | · EA | $14.99 | 25 96% | 750 | $11k (exactly $11,242) | Last Keep |
 | Leaks In Space | · EA | $14.99 | 14 71% | 420 | $6.3k (exactly $6,296) | Frostech Game Studio |
 | Lonely tiny spaceship | $3.99 | 12 83% | 360 | $1.4k (exactly $1,436) | Lonely bro | |
 | Infinite Empire | · EA | $14.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $899 (exactly $899) | Better Tools LLC |
 | Asteroid Colony | · EA | $5.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $719 (exactly $719) | Christian Lutnik |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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