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Should I ship an Underground Collectathon game?
Collectathon + Underground
Of 27 developers who shipped an Underground Collectathon 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.. 26 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×2.2 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $120. Revenue is up 210% on the market; 26 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
| Top 25% | $8.0k (exactly $7,969) |
| Top 5% | $133k (exactly $133,160) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 27 |
| Released games | 49 |
| Announced | 26 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 210% on the market, supply 140% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Collectathon
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Underground
- 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
- Collectathon; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Mining, Adventure, Crafting
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 3,271 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 8 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 26 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Collectathon with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + CapitalismStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + EconomyFair
- + ManagementFair
- + CrimeFair
- + Level EditorFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + SokobanFair
- + MythologyFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + Combat RacingFair
Comparable games
Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1 2020 · $160k 
Cellar Keeper 2026 · $134k 
Diggin 2026 · $133k 
Super Mining Mechs 2024 · $126k 
Miniland Adventure 2023 · $96k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1 | older | $9.99 | 533 98% | 16k | $160k (exactly $159,740) | Cosmo D |
| | Cellar Keeper | $4.99 | 892 89% | 27k | $134k (exactly $133,532) | EgoTrampoline | |
| | Diggin | $6.99 | 635 80% | 19k | $133k (exactly $133,160) | Longshot Studio | |
| | Super Mining Mechs | $4.99 | 841 86% | 25k | $126k (exactly $125,898) | Delayed Victory | |
| | Miniland Adventure | older | $10.99 | 290 72% | 8.7k | $96k (exactly $95,613) | Imilkowski Dev |
 | Ad Fundum | older | $6.99 | 429 93% | 13k | $90k (exactly $89,961) | Oldbut Gold |
 | DigDigDrill | $3.99 | 607 95% | 18k | $73k (exactly $72,658) | Toorai | |
 | Chipmatic | $11.99 | 158 65% | 4.7k | $57k (exactly $56,833) | Molter | |
 | Train Plus Japan Drive Western Japan Trains! Rapid Service Edition | $64.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $27k (exactly $27,296) | SHINISE GAMES, MFC STUDIO | |
 | Cozy Mining | $6.99 | 38 76% | 1.1k | $8.0k (exactly $7,969) | tatsumaki games | |
 | DigWorld | $4.99 | 43 81% | 1.3k | $6.4k (exactly $6,437) | Edgar IX | |
 | MINERALS: Deep Core Mining | $6.99 | 23 78% | 690 | $4.8k (exactly $4,823) | THINK & FEEL | |
 | Mining Miner | · EA | $4.99 | 20 95% | 600 | $3.0k (exactly $2,994) | Skollheim, MTSU |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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