Games › City Builder › City Builder + Hex Grid
Should I ship a Hex Grid City Builder?
City Builder + Hex Grid
Of 40 developers who shipped a Hex Grid City Builder 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.. 60 more are announced, ×3.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.9k, ×6.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×248 the market median. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 60 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) |
| Top 25% | $19k (exactly $18,873) |
| Top 5% | $156k (exactly $155,922) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 40 |
| Released games | 90 |
| Announced | 60 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 80% on the market, supply 35% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, 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
- Hex Grid
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- City Builder, Hex Grid; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Simulation, Building
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 49% positive over 46,088 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 60 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.8 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
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016 · $497M 
Sid Meier's Civilization VII 2025 · $94M 
HUMANKIND™ 2021 · $33M 
Age of Wonders: Planetfall 2019 · $4.3M 
As Far As The Eye 2020 · $1.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI | older | $59.99 | 276,113 86% | 8.3M | $497M (exactly $496,920,566) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization VII | $69.99 | 44,789 48% | 1.3M | $94M (exactly $94,043,463) | Firaxis Games | |
| | HUMANKIND™ | older | $49.99 | 22,165 68% | 665k | $33M (exactly $33,240,850) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
| | Age of Wonders: Planetfall | older | $29.99 | 4,758 80% | 143k | $4.3M (exactly $4,280,773) | Triumph Studios |
| | As Far As The Eye | older | $24.99 | 1,640 73% | 49k | $1.2M (exactly $1,229,508) | Unexpected |
 | TerraScape | older | $14.99 | 2,068 88% | 62k | $930k (exactly $929,980) | Bitfall Studios |
 | Before We Leave | older | $19.99 | 1,278 78% | 38k | $766k (exactly $766,417) | Balancing Monkey Games |
 | Ozymandias: Bronze Age Empire Sim | older | $14.99 | 1,306 89% | 39k | $587k (exactly $587,308) | The Secret Games Company |
 | Rising Lords | older | $19.99 | 904 70% | 27k | $542k (exactly $542,129) | Argonwood |
 | Deity Empires | older | $24.99 | 333 86% | 10k | $250k (exactly $249,650) | BaileyHausdorff Systems |
 | Rogue Hex | $19.99 | 260 89% | 7.8k | $156k (exactly $155,922) | Topstitch Games | |
 | Yield! Fall of Rome | $19.99 | 219 69% | 6.6k | $131k (exactly $131,334) | Billionworlds | |
 | EcoGnomix | $19.99 | 216 74% | 6.5k | $130k (exactly $129,535) | Irox Games | |
 | Humanica | · EA | $14.99 | 192 93% | 5.8k | $86k (exactly $86,342) | PanfachDev |
 | Mistward | $11.99 | 74 59% | 2.2k | $27k (exactly $26,618) | Sokpop Collective | |
 | Qianli: The Vastscape Scroll | $9.99 | 79 86% | 2.4k | $24k (exactly $23,676) | Betobe Studio | |
 | Skyline Urban Story | $6.99 | 106 90% | 3.2k | $22k (exactly $22,228) | PandaUpStudio | |
 | Wild City | $9.99 | 63 88% | 1.9k | $19k (exactly $18,881) | Monka Studios | |
 | ShoreTiles | $6.99 | 90 74% | 2.7k | $19k (exactly $18,873) | Voxel Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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