Do I ship it?

Games › Colony Sim › Colony Sim + Inventory Management

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Inventory Management Colony Sim?

Colony Sim + Inventory Management

Only 14 developers shipped an Inventory Management Colony Sim 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, Time to Morp, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 63 more are announced, ×7.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.1k, ×3.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $100k, ×170 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 63 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.3 times the market baseline, revenue down 25% on the market, 63 announced, ×7.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Colony Sim + Inventory Management
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 14
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.5k → $539 (still earning) → $4.9k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Colony Sim + Inventory Management: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 14
Bottom 30% $539 (exactly $539)
Median $2.1k (exactly $2,098)
Top 25% $4.9k (exactly $4,852)
Top 5% $107k (exactly $106,747)
Developers, 2 yr 14
Released games 31
Announced 63
Effort 6 / 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 down 25% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Colony Sim
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Inventory Management
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Colony Sim, Inventory Management
Price point
$8.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 373 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $540, median $2.1k, 1 in 4 over $4.8k, 1 in 20 over $100k.

3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 63 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×7.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Colony Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Female ProtagonistFair7 devs · median $4.6k · 11 announced
  2. + ArcadeLong shot13 devs · median $359 · 19 announced
  3. + 4XPoor odds23 devs · median $314k · 77 announced
  4. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds11 devs · median $170k · 25 announced
  5. + Co-opPoor odds13 devs · median $73k · 54 announced
  6. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds11 devs · median $73k · 21 announced
  7. + HistoricalPoor odds42 devs · median $59k · 75 announced
  8. + Alternate HistoryPoor odds16 devs · median $59k · 43 announced
  9. + Open WorldPoor odds78 devs · median $58k · 168 announced
  10. + Action RPGPoor odds11 devs · median $58k · 35 announced
  11. + Post-apocalypticPoor odds48 devs · median $54k · 101 announced
  12. + MarsPoor odds13 devs · median $50k · 31 announced

All 93 pairs on the Colony Sim page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Stranded: Alien Dawn 2023 · $10M Pharaoh™: A New Era 2023 · $3.3M Hammerting 2021 · $1.3M Diggles: The Myth of Fenris 2020 · $186k SCP Strategy 2022 · $117k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Stranded: Alien Dawn older $34.99 9,715 84% 291k $10M (exactly $10,197,836) Haemimont Games
Pharaoh™: A New Era older $22.99 4,811 75% 144k $3.3M (exactly $3,318,147) Triskell Interactive
Hammerting older $24.99 1,733 57% 52k $1.3M (exactly $1,299,230) Warpzone Studios
Diggles: The Myth of Fenris older $9.99 619 89% 19k $186k (exactly $185,514) Spieleentwicklungskombinat GmbH, Genera… (Spieleentwicklungskombinat GmbH, General Arcade)
SCP Strategy older $6.99 556 78% 17k $117k (exactly $116,593) LUXO Interactive
Time to Morp $19.99 178 79% 5.3k $107k (exactly $106,747) Team HalfBeard
Swarmdustry · EA $29.99 66 90% 2.0k $59k (exactly $59,380) Mitchy Studios
Survival Vacancy older $19.99 70 60% 2.1k $42k (exactly $41,979) Mind Leak
Beetle Uprising older $9.99 87 72% 2.6k $26k (exactly $26,074) Iocane Games, LLC
CLOUD DWELLERS · EA $9.99 59 81% 1.8k $18k (exactly $17,682) XinZhi
Periapsis: Gravity Slingshot $5.99 27 81% 810 $4.9k (exactly $4,852) PcZ Games
Rustbound $14.99 8 37% 240 $3.6k (exactly $3,598) Wylde Wisp Games
Heroes For Hire - Guild Micromanagement Simulator · EA $7.99 9 77% 270 $2.2k (exactly $2,157) Untouch
Wildwood: A Town Building Game $9.99 7 71% 210 $2.1k (exactly $2,098) Thermal Expansion Games
Hexfactory $4.99 10 60% 300 $1.5k (exactly $1,497) Aquila Industrial
Food Store Simulator $4.99 6 50% 180 $898 (exactly $898) mobaroid
Caribbean Frontier · EA $5.99 3 66% 90 $539 (exactly $539) Agon Games

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.