Do I ship it?

Games › Crafting › Crafting + Solitaire

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Crafting Solitaire game?

Crafting + Solitaire

Only 12 developers shipped a Crafting Solitaire game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Factory Planner, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 20 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $810, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $150. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 20 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.3 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 20 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Crafting + Solitaire
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 12
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.5k → $16k → $9.9k (still earning) → $120 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Crafting + Solitaire: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 12
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $809 (exactly $809)
Top 25% $16k (exactly $16,184)
Top 5% $92k (exactly $92,284)
Developers, 2 yr 12
Released games 33
Announced 20
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 1000% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, 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.

Crafting
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Solitaire
effort 1 / 10 · high · fixed rules, cards and a table

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Crafting, Solitaire
Price point
$4.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 70% positive over 590 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $810, 1 in 4 over $16k, 1 in 20 over $92k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 20 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Crafting with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Job SimulatorStrong odds62 devs · median $15k · 65 announced
  2. + SportsFair24 devs · median $37k · 26 announced
  3. + Turn-BasedFair16 devs · median $17k · 24 announced
  4. + IdlerFair235 devs · median $1.7k · 338 announced
  5. + LovecraftianPoor odds17 devs · median $174k · 39 announced
  6. + MMORPGPoor odds25 devs · median $111k · 155 announced
  7. + LGBTQ+Poor odds19 devs · median $90k · 50 announced
  8. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds160 devs · median $77k · 369 announced
  9. + WesternPoor odds13 devs · median $69k · 23 announced
  10. + Bullet HeavenPoor odds20 devs · median $44k · 25 announced
  11. + TrainsPoor odds17 devs · median $39k · 30 announced
  12. + Co-opPoor odds208 devs · median $38k · 576 announced

All 200 pairs on the Crafting page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Mystic Vale 2019 · $150k Factory Planner 2026 · EA · $92k FreeCell Quest 2015 · $83k Paper Kingdom 2025 · $25k Faerie Solitaire Dire 2020 · EA · $25k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Mystic Vale older $12.99 384 89% 12k $150k (exactly $149,645) Nomad Games
Factory Planner · EA $7.99 385 70% 12k $92k (exactly $92,284) Lebleby Games
FreeCell Quest older $9.99 278 81% 8.3k $83k (exactly $83,317) Legend Studio
Paper Kingdom $12.99 65 61% 2.0k $25k (exactly $25,330) obece
Faerie Solitaire Dire · EA older $19.99 41 68% 1.2k $25k (exactly $24,588) Subsoap
Decks of the Damned $9.99 54 68% 1.6k $16k (exactly $16,184) Thorian Games
Grime&Gold $4.99 66 95% 2.0k $9.9k (exactly $9,880) Pemdora, Zakku, Spartaqui
Build Lands older $3.99 37 83% 1.1k $4.4k (exactly $4,429) Yaw Studios
The Little Trashmaid Puzzletime older $4.99 26 96% 780 $3.9k (exactly $3,892) Josh Larsen, s0s2
Alchemy: Origins older $3.99 28 60% 840 $3.4k (exactly $3,352) Error 300
Slash Cash $3.99 10 30% 300 $1.2k (exactly $1,197) AnythingGames
手机时代 Mobile era $8.99 3 33% 90 $809 (exactly $809) LI XIAOLEI
Throne of Cards $11.99 2 50% 60 $719 (exactly $719) Hidden Universe Games
Work Sucks, Let’s Play Dou Dizhu! $3.99 3 0% 90 $359 (exactly $359) Schelling Point
Talisman Maker - Mahjong Oracle $4.99 1 100% 30 $150 (exactly $150) Nalbam
Ace Marks the Spot $3.99 1 100% 30 $120 (exactly $120) breezyaroma

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