Games › City Builder › City Builder + Destruction
Should I ship a Destruction City Builder?
City Builder + Destruction
Only 8 developers shipped a Destruction City Builder 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, Castle Craft, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 27 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300, ×0.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $59. 27 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper, while momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games.
| Bottom 30% | $59 (exactly $59) |
|---|---|
| Median | $299 (exactly $299) |
| Top 25% | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) |
| Top 5% | $288k (exactly $287,856) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 8 |
| Released games | 33 |
| Announced | 27 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 600% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- City Builder
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Destruction
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- City Builder, Destruction
- Price point
- $7.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 43,767 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $59. 27 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
City Builder with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Visual NovelStrong odds
- + LogicFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + RacingLong shot
- + RomePoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + HorrorPoor odds
- + Alternate HistoryPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
Tropico 6 2019 · $24M 
Dawn of Man 2019 · $13M 
Hotel Renovator 2023 · $1.7M 
Ruinarch 2023 · $1.0M 
Conan Unconquered 2019 · $721k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tropico 6 | older | $39.99 | 19,837 88% | 595k | $24M (exactly $23,798,449) | Limbic Entertainment, Realmforge Studios |
| | Dawn of Man | older | $24.99 | 17,094 86% | 513k | $13M (exactly $12,815,372) | Madruga Works |
| | Hotel Renovator | older | $24.99 | 2,223 77% | 67k | $1.7M (exactly $1,666,583) | Two Horizons |
| | Ruinarch | older | $24.99 | 1,336 62% | 40k | $1.0M (exactly $1,001,599) | Maccima Games LLC |
| | Conan Unconquered | older | $19.99 | 1,203 70% | 36k | $721k (exactly $721,439) | Petroglyph |
 | Actraiser Renaissance | older | $29.99 | 708 74% | 21k | $637k (exactly $636,988) | Square Enix, Sonic Powered |
 | Castle Craft | $19.99 | 480 82% | 14k | $288k (exactly $287,856) | Twin Earth | |
 | Ancient Wars: Sparta Definitive Edition | · EA older | $19.99 | 453 74% | 14k | $272k (exactly $271,664) | JOTASOFT STUDIOS |
 | I Am Your President | older | $14.99 | 263 66% | 7.9k | $118k (exactly $118,271) | President |
 | T-Minus 30 | older | $9.99 | 170 92% | 5.1k | $51k (exactly $50,949) | Dejobaan Games, Grey Alien Games |
 | Apocalypse Factory | · EA | $9.99 | 8 50% | 240 | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) | Mind Leak |
 | Wood'N'Destroy | $3.99 | 16 93% | 480 | $1.9k (exactly $1,915) | Abyssal Interactive | |
 | GodWright | $4.99 | 2 0% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | JaceDev | |
 | Neo-Exodus: Last Bastion | $2.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $90 (exactly $90) | GODev Games | |
 | Hon Cars | $0.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $59 (exactly $59) | Bolfosu Nalic | |
 | Escape the End | · EA | $19.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Damaged Development Studio |
 | Grainhold | $7.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | CreakGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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