Games › Colony Sim › Colony Sim + Turn-Based Strategy
Should I ship a Turn-Based Strategy Colony Sim?
Colony Sim + Turn-Based Strategy
Of 30 developers who shipped a Turn-Based Strategy 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.. 58 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.0k, ×6.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $140k, ×236 the market median. Revenue is up 65% on the market; 58 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $629 (exactly $629) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.0k (exactly $3,984) |
| Top 25% | $48k (exactly $47,976) |
| Top 5% | $148k (exactly $148,352) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 30 |
| Released games | 70 |
| Announced | 58 |
| 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 up 65% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Turn-Based Strategy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Colony Sim, Turn-Based Strategy; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Strategy, Management
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 2,665 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 7 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 58 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 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
ISLANDERS 2019 · $2.4M 
dotAGE 2023 · $1.4M 
As Far As The Eye 2020 · $1.2M 
Sheltered 2 2021 · $1.2M 
Screeps: World 2016 · $1.2M | 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) |
| | dotAGE | older | $17.59 | 2,560 94% | 77k | $1.4M (exactly $1,350,912) | Michele Pirovano |
| | As Far As The Eye | older | $24.99 | 1,640 73% | 49k | $1.2M (exactly $1,229,508) | Unexpected |
| | Sheltered 2 | older | $19.99 | 2,015 45% | 60k | $1.2M (exactly $1,208,396) | Unicube |
| | Screeps: World | older | $19.99 | 1,934 86% | 58k | $1.2M (exactly $1,159,820) | Screeps, LLC |
 | Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization | older | $29.99 | 1,283 87% | 38k | $1.2M (exactly $1,154,315) | Firaxis Games |
 | Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville | older | $14.99 | 1,486 86% | 45k | $668k (exactly $668,254) | Northway Games, Sarah Northway |
 | 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 |
 | Sid Meier's Colonization (Classic) | older | $6.99 | 1,046 96% | 31k | $219k (exactly $219,346) | MicroProse Software, Inc |
 | Kingdom's Deck | $9.99 | 495 72% | 15k | $148k (exactly $148,352) | Ivan Aco | |
 | These Doomed Isles | $14.99 | 180 66% | 5.4k | $81k (exactly $80,946) | Triplevision Games Limited | |
 | Anoxia Station | $14.99 | 179 76% | 5.4k | $80k (exactly $80,496) | Bonereaders | |
 | Dead Reckoning: The Long Drift | · EA | $14.99 | 174 83% | 5.2k | $78k (exactly $78,248) | Garan Lorn |
 | Imperial Ambitions | $19.99 | 101 81% | 3.0k | $61k (exactly $60,570) | aoiti | |
 | Edge Islands | · EA | $17.99 | 93 74% | 2.8k | $50k (exactly $50,192) | LS Games |
 | Project Afterfall | · EA | $19.99 | 80 75% | 2.4k | $48k (exactly $47,976) | MuHa Games, Eerie Forest Studio |
 | The Carcass | $9.99 | 76 26% | 2.3k | $23k (exactly $22,777) | PiqFocus Interactive | |
 | Rising Army | $11.99 | 57 64% | 1.7k | $21k (exactly $20,503) | Arkbits |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.