Do I ship it?

Games › Colony Sim › Colony Sim + Puzzle

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Puzzle Colony Sim?

Colony Sim + Puzzle

Of 25 developers who shipped a Puzzle 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.. 31 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $2.5k, ×4.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $210k, ×346 the market median. Revenue is up 510% on the market; 31 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 510% on the market, 31 announced, ×2.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Colony Sim + Puzzle
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 25
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $505 → $899 → $10k → $629 → $4.3k → $4.6k (still earning) → $15k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Colony Sim + Puzzle: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 25
Bottom 30% $599 (exactly $599)
Median $2.5k (exactly $2,545)
Top 25% $15k (exactly $15,285)
Top 5% $217k (exactly $217,453)
Developers, 2 yr 25
Released games 63
Announced 31
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $6.99

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 510% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 3%, excluded from money figures.

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
Puzzle
effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data

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, Puzzle; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Building, Exploration
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 3D, Dark
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 3,024 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $600, median $2.5k, 1 in 4 over $15k, 1 in 20 over $210k.

3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 31 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 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

ISLANDERS 2019 · $2.4M Reus 2 2024 · $1.6M ISLANDERS: New Shores 2025 · $369k Farlanders 2023 · $229k Asbury Pines 2025 · EA · $217k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
ISLANDERS older $4.99 16,104 94% 483k $2.4M (exactly $2,410,769) Coatsink, GrizzlyGames, Stage Clear Stu… (Coatsink, GrizzlyGames, Stage Clear Studios)
Reus 2 older $24.99 2,133 94% 64k $1.6M (exactly $1,599,110) Abbey Games
ISLANDERS: New Shores $9.99 1,230 96% 37k $369k (exactly $368,631) The Station
Farlanders older $14.99 510 89% 15k $229k (exactly $229,347) Andrii Bychkovskyi
Asbury Pines · EA $12.99 558 90% 17k $217k (exactly $217,453) Chaystar Unlimited LLC
Craftlings $19.99 311 86% 9.3k $187k (exactly $186,507) ARIANO Games GmbH
Landnama older $13.99 439 74% 13k $184k (exactly $184,248) Sonderland
One More Island older $19.99 195 68% 5.9k $117k (exactly $116,941) Berg Games
Code: Terraform · EA $14.99 252 85% 7.6k $113k (exactly $113,324) AppsMafia
Dwarrows older $29.99 97 69% 2.9k $87k (exactly $87,271) Lithic Entertainment Inc.
Anoxia Station $14.99 179 76% 5.4k $80k (exactly $80,496) Bonereaders
FREE DUROV $3.99 363 90% 11k $43k (exactly $43,451) RASKUMAR TEAM
Zen World $9.99 51 80% 1.5k $15k (exactly $15,285) Cartboard Games
Nova Patria $11.99 22 100% 660 $7.9k (exactly $7,913) Sower Interactive
Tranquil Isle $4.99 39 89% 1.2k $5.8k (exactly $5,838) Tom Daly
Weather Dragger $7.99 19 100% 570 $4.6k (exactly $4,554) Geese & Goose

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