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Should I ship a Crafting Incremental game?
Crafting + Incremental
Of 210 developers who shipped a Crafting Incremental game 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.. 307 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $320; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×243 the market median. Revenue is up 420% on the market; 307 games are announced against 153 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $313 (exactly $313) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,347) |
| Top 25% | $6.0k (exactly $5,988) |
| Top 5% | $152k (exactly $152,380) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 210 |
| Released games | 453 |
| Announced | 307 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 420% on the market, supply 165% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 24%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Crafting
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Crafting, Incremental; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, Simulation, Resource Management
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 15,760 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $320. 8 in 10 of the 78 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 307 games are announced against 153 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Crafting with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + SportsFair
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + IdlerFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + WesternPoor odds
- + Bullet HeavenPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Startup Company | older | $12.99 | 5,853 81% | 176k | $2.3M (exactly $2,280,914) | Hovgaard Games |
| | BitCraft Online | · EA | $15.99 | 3,334 72% | 100k | $1.6M (exactly $1,599,320) | Clockwork Laboratories, Inc. |
| | Outpath | older | $14.99 | 2,898 92% | 87k | $1.3M (exactly $1,303,231) | David Moralejo Sánchez |
| | Weedcraft Inc | older | $19.99 | 1,549 79% | 46k | $929k (exactly $928,935) | Vile Monarch |
| | Swag and Sorcery | older | $12.99 | 2,318 54% | 70k | $903k (exactly $903,325) | Lazy Bear Games, Uroboros Games |
| | Orb of Creation | $11.99 | 2,167 84% | 65k | $779k (exactly $779,470) | MarpleGames | |
| | KOTAMON: My Sis Found A Super-Rare Card In Her Cereal Box, So I Became A Garbage Man To Find The Entire Collection And Earn $1,000,000 | $6.99 | 2,489 81% | 75k | $522k (exactly $521,943) | KotaMota Games | |
| | Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator | older | $19.99 | 827 92% | 25k | $496k (exactly $495,952) | Strange Scaffold |
| | Weapon Shop Fantasy | older | $9.99 | 1,560 78% | 47k | $468k (exactly $467,532) | INDIECN |
| | Click Mage | $4.99 | 2,529 91% | 76k | $379k (exactly $378,591) | Tiny Crow Games | |
| | Forage Wizard | $6.99 | 1,549 87% | 46k | $325k (exactly $324,825) | Lost Maxim | |
| | Nomad Idle | $9.99 | 852 64% | 26k | $255k (exactly $255,344) | The Fox Knocks | |
| | Military Incremental Complex | $9.99 | 692 82% | 21k | $207k (exactly $207,392) | Space Kraken Studios | |
| | Desktop Raid | $8.99 | 672 76% | 20k | $181k (exactly $181,238) | Lee_Studio | |
| | Zad Archery | $6.99 | 803 73% | 24k | $168k (exactly $168,389) | Samharia Studios | |
| | Bloobs Adventure Idle | $7.99 | 673 88% | 20k | $161k (exactly $161,318) | Bloobs_Dev |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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