Do I ship it?

Games › Colony Sim › Colony Sim + Time Management

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Time Management Colony Sim?

Colony Sim + Time Management

Of 61 developers who shipped a Time Management 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.. 114 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×3.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $290k, ×464 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 114 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.8 times the market baseline, revenue down 45% on the market, 114 announced, ×2.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Colony Sim + Time Management
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 61
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $7.4k → $5.8k → $4.8k → $1.9k → $2.9k → $4.3k → $4.6k (still earning) → $897 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Colony Sim + Time Management: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 61
Bottom 30% $599 (exactly $599)
Median $2.4k (exactly $2,399)
Top 25% $26k (exactly $25,888)
Top 5% $292k (exactly $291,633)
Developers, 2 yr 61
Released games 134
Announced 114
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 down 45% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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
Time 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, Time Management; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Resource Management, Strategy
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 29,017 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 $2.4k, 1 in 4 over $25k, 1 in 20 over $290k.

3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 25 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 114 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 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

Farthest Frontier 2025 · $26M Infection Free Zone 2024 · EA · $12M Cliff Empire 2019 · $2.3M Havendock 2025 · $902k Republic of Pirates 2024 · $315k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Farthest Frontier $34.99 24,444 86% 733k $26M (exactly $25,658,867) Crate Entertainment
Infection Free Zone · EA older $24.99 16,568 80% 497k $12M (exactly $12,421,030) Jutsu Games
Cliff Empire older $17.99 4,194 87% 126k $2.3M (exactly $2,263,502) Lion's Shade
Havendock $19.99 1,504 81% 45k $902k (exactly $901,949) YYZ Studio
Republic of Pirates older $24.99 420 70% 13k $315k (exactly $314,874) Crazy Goat Games
Zombie Cure Lab $24.99 393 65% 12k $295k (exactly $294,632) Thera Bytes GmbH
Ark of Charon $24.99 389 75% 12k $292k (exactly $291,633) Angoo Inc., SUNSOFT
Love Tavern older $11.99 778 73% 23k $280k (exactly $279,847) Secret Labo
SeaOrama: World of Shipping older $19.99 382 58% 11k $229k (exactly $229,085) Hidden Tower, SeaOrama
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
This Grand Life 2 $17.99 307 88% 9.2k $166k (exactly $165,688) Poking Water Games
Sinner Maker · EA $9.66 545 91% 16k $158k (exactly $157,941) Pantokrator
Mars Attracts · EA $24.99 209 91% 6.3k $157k (exactly $156,687) Outlier
Futanari★Coffee shop $13.99 357 91% 11k $150k (exactly $149,833) W77Games

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