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Should I ship a Procedural Generation Colony Sim?
Colony Sim + Procedural Generation
Of 82 developers who shipped a Procedural Generation Colony Sim 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.. 175 more are announced, ×4.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $15k, ×24 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.3k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×2693 the market median. Revenue is up 160% on the market; 175 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.2k (exactly $2,248) |
|---|---|
| Median | $15k (exactly $15,285) |
| Top 25% | $158k (exactly $157,941) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,691,422) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 82 |
| Released games | 158 |
| Announced | 175 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 160% on the market, supply 10% 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.
- Colony Sim
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Procedural Generation
- 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
- Colony Sim, Procedural Generation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Base Building, Resource Management
- Price point
- $11.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 42,486 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.3k. 6 in 10 of the 41 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 175 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Colony Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + ArcadeLong shot
- + 4XPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + Alternate HistoryPoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + Action RPGPoor odds
- + Post-apocalypticPoor odds
- + MarsPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | RimWorld | older | $34.99 | 208,693 97% | 6.3M | $219M (exactly $219,065,042) | Ludeon Studios |
| | WorldBox - God Simulator | · EA older | $19.99 | 51,071 95% | 1.5M | $31M (exactly $30,627,279) | Maxim Karpenko |
| | Dwarf Fortress | older | $29.99 | 29,303 94% | 879k | $26M (exactly $26,363,909) | Bay 12 Games |
| | Banished | older | $19.99 | 37,895 90% | 1.1M | $23M (exactly $22,725,632) | Shining Rock Software LLC |
| | Going Medieval | $29.99 | 17,032 88% | 511k | $15M (exactly $15,323,690) | Foxy Voxel | |
| | The Universim | older | $29.99 | 8,465 79% | 254k | $7.6M (exactly $7,615,960) | Crytivo |
| | Endzone - A World Apart | older | $24.99 | 8,311 76% | 249k | $6.2M (exactly $6,230,757) | Gentlymad Studios |
| | Kingdoms Reborn | · EA older | $19.99 | 8,862 90% | 266k | $5.3M (exactly $5,314,541) | Earthshine |
| | Pioneers of Pagonia | $34.99 | 4,794 81% | 144k | $5.0M (exactly $5,032,262) | Envision Entertainment | |
| | Fabledom | older | $20.99 | 6,772 85% | 203k | $4.3M (exactly $4,264,328) | Grenaa Games |
| | Mind Over Magic | $24.99 | 4,314 86% | 129k | $3.2M (exactly $3,234,206) | Sparkypants | |
| | Flotsam | $24.99 | 4,308 80% | 129k | $3.2M (exactly $3,229,708) | Pajama Llama Games | |
| | Plan B: Terraform | $15.99 | 3,526 91% | 106k | $1.7M (exactly $1,691,422) | Gaddy Games | |
| | MEMORIAPOLIS | $32.00 | 1,752 75% | 53k | $1.7M (exactly $1,681,920) | 5PM Studio | |
| | Survivalist: Invisible Strain | $11.99 | 4,014 87% | 120k | $1.4M (exactly $1,443,836) | Bob | |
| | Endzone 2 | $29.99 | 894 65% | 27k | $804k (exactly $804,332) | Gentlymad Studios | |
| | Orebound | · EA | $24.99 | 945 77% | 28k | $708k (exactly $708,466) | Emberforge |
| | Gold Gold Adventure Gold | $24.99 | 907 70% | 27k | $680k (exactly $679,978) | Can Can Can a Man |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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