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Should I ship a Choices Matter Mining game?
Choices Matter + Mining
Only 17 developers shipped a Choices Matter Mining 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, UnderMine 2, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 43 more are announced, ×5.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×4.0 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $490k, ×1045 the market median. Revenue is up 825% on the market; 43 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $539 (exactly $539) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.9k (exactly $1,915) |
| Top 25% | $8.4k (exactly $8,392) |
| Top 5% | $497k (exactly $496,552) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 38 |
| Announced | 43 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 825% on the market, supply 10% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Choices Matter
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Mining
- 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
- Choices Matter, Mining; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Action, Co-op
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 1,110 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 43 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Choices Matter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomFair
- + SportsFair
- + RhythmFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + TriviaFair
- + Board GameFair
- + RacingFair
- + ChessFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + RomePoor odds
- + World War IPoor odds
Comparable games
UnderMine 2020 · $5.6M 
Thriving City: Song 2024 · $1.7M 
Aground 2020 · $820k 
UnderMine 2 2025 · EA · $497k 
Exoplanet: First Contact 2016 · EA · $138k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | UnderMine | older | $19.99 | 9,284 90% | 279k | $5.6M (exactly $5,567,615) | Thorium |
| | Thriving City: Song | older | $18.99 | 3,054 81% | 92k | $1.7M (exactly $1,739,864) | White Star Studio |
| | Aground | older | $14.99 | 1,823 94% | 55k | $820k (exactly $819,803) | Fancy Fish Games, SnöBox Studio |
| | UnderMine 2 | · EA | $19.99 | 828 75% | 25k | $497k (exactly $496,552) | Thorium |
| | Exoplanet: First Contact | · EA older | $19.99 | 230 73% | 6.9k | $138k (exactly $137,931) | Alersteam |
 | Gaia Beyond | older | $14.99 | 240 73% | 7.2k | $108k (exactly $107,928) | Warp Turtle |
 | Brookhaven Grimoire | older | $14.99 | 150 52% | 4.5k | $67k (exactly $67,455) | Little_Amethyst |
 | Miner: Dig Deep | older | $6.99 | 242 91% | 7.3k | $51k (exactly $50,747) | Substance Games |
 | Cave Digger VR | older | $19.90 | 52 65% | 1.6k | $31k (exactly $31,044) | VRKiwi |
 | Cave Digger | older | $14.90 | 63 82% | 1.9k | $28k (exactly $28,161) | VRKiwi |
 | Stretcher Together | $4.99 | 116 47% | 3.5k | $17k (exactly $17,365) | Goosix Games | |
 | The HELL | · EA | $9.99 | 30 73% | 900 | $9.0k (exactly $8,991) | METROPOLICE |
 | Dig & Deal | $9.99 | 29 75% | 870 | $8.7k (exactly $8,691) | ToYa Games | |
 | Bitter Harvest | $9.99 | 28 71% | 840 | $8.4k (exactly $8,392) | BitQuest Studio | |
 | DIGGERGUN | $9.99 | 20 90% | 600 | $6.0k (exactly $5,994) | Kabloop | |
 | Nuice Industries | · EA | $7.99 | 25 96% | 750 | $6.0k (exactly $5,992) | CastleWind |
 | Imperial Settlers: Imperial Miners | $12.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $1.9k (exactly $1,948) | infoexpert games | |
 | Mine of my Mind | $3.99 | 16 81% | 480 | $1.9k (exactly $1,915) | Olymp Studio | |
 | Coin Smith | $2.99 | 13 53% | 390 | $1.2k (exactly $1,166) | Warbyte Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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