Games › Cooking › Cooking + Capitalism
Should I ship a Capitalist Cooking game?
Cooking + Capitalism
Of 41 developers who shipped a Capitalist Cooking 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.. 83 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $11k, ×24 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.8k; 1 in 20 cleared $260k, ×551 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 83 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.8k (exactly $1,794) |
|---|---|
| Median | $11k (exactly $11,394) |
| Top 25% | $54k (exactly $53,946) |
| Top 5% | $262k (exactly $261,502) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 41 |
| Released games | 77 |
| Announced | 83 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 35% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Cooking
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Capitalism
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Cooking; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Economy, Management, Simulation
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 8,074 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.8k. 7 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 83 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Cooking with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + DogsFair
- + Turn-Based CombatFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LogicFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + PuzzleFair
- + Artificial IntelligencePoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Touhou Mystia's Izakaya | older | $5.99 | 29,517 98% | 886k | $5.3M (exactly $5,304,205) | 二色幽紫蝶, Re零同人社 |
| | Saleblazers | · EA older | $29.99 | 1,974 78% | 59k | $1.8M (exactly $1,776,008) | AIRSTRAFE INTERACTIVE |
| | Arctic Eggs | older | $9.99 | 5,343 95% | 160k | $1.6M (exactly $1,601,297) | The Water Museum, cockydoody, abmarnie,… (The Water Museum, cockydoody, abmarnie, Cameron Ginex) |
| | Wrap House Simulator🌯 | $14.99 | 2,951 87% | 89k | $1.3M (exactly $1,327,065) | Broken Lyre Entertainment, Wendigo Games | |
| | Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game | older | $19.99 | 1,388 72% | 42k | $832k (exactly $832,384) | Innervoid Interactive |
| | Winkeltje: The Little Shop | older | $14.99 | 1,612 88% | 48k | $725k (exactly $724,916) | Sassybot |
| | TasteMaker | older | $11.99 | 1,249 83% | 37k | $449k (exactly $449,265) | Jelle Booij |
| | Chef Knight | $5.99 | 2,433 94% | 73k | $437k (exactly $437,210) | Clover Bite | |
| | Pixel Cafe | older | $12.99 | 833 91% | 25k | $325k (exactly $324,620) | Baltoro Games |
| | Recipe for Disaster | older | $14.99 | 591 69% | 18k | $266k (exactly $265,773) | Dapper Penguin Studios |
| | Inn Tycoon | $11.99 | 727 76% | 22k | $262k (exactly $261,502) | Evil Goose Games | |
| | I Know a Guy: Shady Life Simulator | · EA | $12.99 | 398 90% | 12k | $155k (exactly $155,101) | Bunch'o'Nerds |
| | Cafe Business Manager | · EA | $14.99 | 330 86% | 9.9k | $148k (exactly $148,401) | Caos Interactive |
| | Pizza Bandit | · EA | $24.99 | 185 82% | 5.6k | $139k (exactly $138,694) | JOFSOFT |
| | Bakery Cafe Simulator | · EA | $11.99 | 380 70% | 11k | $137k (exactly $136,686) | Meerkatt Studio |
| | One Iced Latte With Your Breast Milk, Please! | $9.99 | 292 83% | 8.8k | $88k (exactly $87,512) | azaly, nemuaki | |
| | Tropical Resort Simulator | $13.99 | 168 83% | 5.0k | $71k (exactly $70,510) | Beardroid Games | |
| | My Little Cafe Nightmare | $8.99 | 210 90% | 6.3k | $57k (exactly $56,637) | SethMadDev |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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