Games › Building › Building + Steampunk
Should I ship a Steampunk Building game?
Building + Steampunk
Only 11 developers shipped a Steampunk 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, Steel Artery: Train City Builder, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 51 more are announced, ×6.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $7.9k, ×13 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×218 the market median. Revenue is up 1710% on the market; 51 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) |
|---|---|
| Median | $7.9k (exactly $7,913) |
| Top 25% | $45k (exactly $44,520) |
| Top 5% | $137k (exactly $137,158) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 11 |
| Released games | 55 |
| Announced | 51 |
| 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 1710% on the market, supply 165% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 742 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 51 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×6.4 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
Frostpunk 2018 · $103M 
They Are Billions 2019 · $42M 
Airships: Conquer the Skies 2018 · $4.6M 
Volcanoids 2019 · EA · $4.6M 
Opus Magnum 2017 · $3.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Frostpunk | older | $29.99 | 114,376 92% | 3.4M | $103M (exactly $102,904,087) | 11 bit studios |
| | They Are Billions | older | $29.99 | 46,223 85% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $41,586,833) | Numantian Games |
| | Airships: Conquer the Skies | older | $24.99 | 6,197 95% | 186k | $4.6M (exactly $4,645,891) | David Stark |
| | Volcanoids | · EA older | $19.99 | 7,679 83% | 230k | $4.6M (exactly $4,605,096) | Volcanoid |
| | Opus Magnum | older | $19.99 | 5,964 97% | 179k | $3.6M (exactly $3,576,611) | Zachtronics |
 | Airborne Kingdom | older | $24.99 | 2,104 86% | 63k | $1.6M (exactly $1,577,369) | The Wandering Band LLC |
 | SteamWorld Build | older | $24.99 | 1,884 83% | 57k | $1.4M (exactly $1,412,435) | The Station |
 | Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles | older | $19.99 | 1,381 85% | 41k | $828k (exactly $828,186) | Tomas Sala |
 | Lethis - Path of Progress | older | $19.99 | 1,103 67% | 33k | $661k (exactly $661,469) | Triskell Interactive |
 | Merchant of the Skies | older | $14.99 | 1,437 87% | 43k | $646k (exactly $646,219) | Coldwild Games |
 | Steel Artery: Train City Builder | $14.99 | 305 71% | 9.2k | $137k (exactly $137,158) | SoulAge23 | |
 | ShipShaper: Falconeer Chronicles | · EA | $8.99 | 192 96% | 5.8k | $52k (exactly $51,782) | Tomas Sala |
 | Exark | $14.99 | 99 73% | 3.0k | $45k (exactly $44,520) | Robot Cat Limited | |
 | The Fool's Apprentice | $16.99 | 42 52% | 1.3k | $21k (exactly $21,407) | The Planar Danse | |
 | HEXSTORM: Tears of Arcadia | $8.99 | 56 75% | 1.7k | $15k (exactly $15,103) | Tearevo | |
 | Nova Patria | $11.99 | 22 100% | 660 | $7.9k (exactly $7,913) | Sower Interactive | |
 | Wings of Aviora | · EA | $24.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $6.0k (exactly $5,998) | Stormy XP |
 | Tilescape Defense | $4.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) | Kahvigames | |
 | Factory Train: DreamLine | $9.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | Unoptimized Bird | |
 | Steampunk Idle Spinner | $4.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | Airapport |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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