Games › Building › Building + Time Manipulation
Should I ship a Building Time Manipulation game?
Building + Time Manipulation
Only 15 developers shipped a Building Time Manipulation 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, Hotel Architect, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 26 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 $1.4k, ×2.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $1.7M, ×2771 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 26 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,438) |
| Top 25% | $41k (exactly $40,923) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,740,020) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 53 |
| Announced | 26 |
| 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 down 55% on the market, supply 15% fewer 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
- Time Manipulation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building, Time Manipulation
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 2,924 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 9 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 26 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hotel Architect | $29.99 | 1,934 94% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,740,020) | Pathos Interactive | |
| | Cube Chaos | $11.99 | 621 95% | 19k | $223k (exactly $223,374) | Wunarg | |
| | Train World | older | $34.99 | 85 75% | 2.6k | $89k (exactly $89,224) | Turn Point Games |
| | Check Inn | $14.99 | 197 84% | 5.9k | $89k (exactly $88,591) | KishMish Games | |
| | Hotel Giant 2 | older | $7.99 | 268 47% | 8.0k | $64k (exactly $64,240) | Enlight Software Limited, PerspectX |
| | Destructive Physics - Destruction Simulator | older | $19.99 | 87 78% | 2.6k | $52k (exactly $52,174) | KreizLand Games |
| | Oasis Mission: Colony Sim | $14.99 | 91 56% | 2.7k | $41k (exactly $40,923) | Lunar pug studio | |
| | Natti | · EA older | $7.99 | 109 58% | 3.3k | $26k (exactly $26,127) | 4DAYS LAB Co., Ltd. |
| | Industry Giant | older | $9.99 | 70 77% | 2.1k | $21k (exactly $20,979) | QLOC |
| | Omnibullet | older | $11.99 | 36 100% | 1.1k | $13k (exactly $12,949) | Arbitrary Combination |
| | Arcade Empire Tycoon | $4.99 | 25 68% | 750 | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) | Mind Inside Games | |
| | Rescue Team: Ancient Guardian | $6.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $2.3k (exactly $2,307) | Game Mixer | |
| | Rescue Team: Attack of the Atom | $6.99 | 11 90% | 330 | $2.3k (exactly $2,307) | Game Mixer | |
| | Stop the Blight | $12.99 | 4 50% | 120 | $1.6k (exactly $1,559) | Bouncy Washer | |
| | Destructive Contraptions | $7.99 | 6 83% | 180 | $1.4k (exactly $1,438) | Gamergetik | |
| | Hardware Store & Workshop Simulator | · EA | $0.99 | 24 79% | 720 | $713 (exactly $713) | Superwolf Game Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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