Games › Destruction › Destruction + Driving
Should I ship a Destruction Driving game?
Destruction + Driving
Of 55 developers who shipped a Destruction Driving 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.. 120 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×2.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $1.7M, ×2761 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 120 games are announced against 36 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $11,692) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,733,722) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 55 |
| Released games | 192 |
| Announced | 120 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Destruction
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Driving
- effort 6 / 10 · low · vehicle handling feel is tuned by hand
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Destruction, Driving; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Physics, Simulation
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $34.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $34.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 74% positive over 24,785 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 23 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 120 games are announced against 36 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Destruction with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Space SimFair
- + ModernFair
- + God GameFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CapitalismPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Automobile SimPoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BeamNG.drive | · EA older | $24.99 | 388,236 97% | 12M | $291M (exactly $291,060,529) | BeamNG |
| | Need for Speed™ Heat | older | $69.99 | 128,933 84% | 3.9M | $271M (exactly $270,720,620) | Ghost Games |
| | Teardown | older | $29.99 | 126,563 95% | 3.8M | $114M (exactly $113,868,731) | Tuxedo Labs |
| | Brick Rigs | older | $19.99 | 53,749 95% | 1.6M | $32M (exactly $32,233,275) | Fluppisoft GmbH |
| | Wreckfest | older | $29.99 | 31,390 87% | 942k | $28M (exactly $28,241,583) | Bugbear |
| | Just Cause 4 Reloaded | older | $39.64 | 23,358 63% | 701k | $28M (exactly $27,777,334) | Avalanche Studios |
| | Need for Speed™ | older | $29.99 | 25,443 69% | 763k | $23M (exactly $22,891,067) | Ghost Games |
| | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
| | Gas Station Simulator | older | $19.99 | 23,839 88% | 715k | $14M (exactly $14,296,248) | DRAGO entertainment |
| | Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit Remastered | older | $29.99 | 13,583 81% | 407k | $12M (exactly $12,220,625) | Stellar Entertainment Limited |
| | Wreckfest 2 | · EA | $34.99 | 5,578 73% | 167k | $5.9M (exactly $5,855,227) | Bugbear |
| | Call to Arms: Panzer Elite | · EA | $29.99 | 1,927 69% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,733,722) | Digitalmindsoft |
| | Carmageddon: Rogue Shift | $39.99 | 752 62% | 23k | $902k (exactly $902,174) | 34BigThings srl | |
| | SimplePlanes 2 | · EA | $19.99 | 1,316 92% | 39k | $789k (exactly $789,205) | Jundroo, LLC |
| | Wreckreation | $39.99 | 360 63% | 11k | $432k (exactly $431,892) | Three Fields Entertainment | |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks | $19.99 | 493 85% | 15k | $296k (exactly $295,652) | Caged Element | |
| | Deliver At All Costs | $29.99 | 320 73% | 9.6k | $288k (exactly $287,904) | Studio Far Out Games | |
| | Voxel Project VR | $24.99 | 325 84% | 9.8k | $244k (exactly $243,652) | 180° | |
| | BeastLink | · EA | $19.99 | 187 45% | 5.6k | $112k (exactly $112,144) | Grove Street Games |
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.