Games › Destruction › Destruction + Dystopian
Should I ship a Dystopian Destruction game?
Destruction + Dystopian
Of 23 developers who shipped a Dystopian Destruction 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.. 64 more are announced, ×4.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×4.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $420k, ×683 the market median. Revenue is up 1360% on the market; 64 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $358 (exactly $358) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,695) |
| Top 25% | $35k (exactly $35,331) |
| Top 5% | $429k (exactly $428,828) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 83 |
| Announced | 64 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 1360% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 27%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Destruction
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Dystopian
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Destruction; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Dark, Isometric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 3,319 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 64 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Destruction with a different setting or mood, 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
Hardspace: Shipbreaker 2022 · $20M 
DYSMANTLE 2021 · $6.6M 
Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance 2024 · $4.1M 
Brigador: Up-Armored Edition 2016 · $3.4M 
Forefront 2026 · $1.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hardspace: Shipbreaker | older | $34.99 | 19,431 89% | 583k | $20M (exactly $20,396,721) | Blackbird Interactive |
| | DYSMANTLE | older | $19.99 | 11,022 91% | 331k | $6.6M (exactly $6,609,893) | 10tons Ltd |
| | Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance | older | $39.99 | 3,395 82% | 102k | $4.1M (exactly $4,072,982) | Slitherine Ltd. |
| | Brigador: Up-Armored Edition | older | $24.99 | 4,580 93% | 137k | $3.4M (exactly $3,433,626) | Stellar Jockeys, Gausswerks |
| | Forefront | $27.99 | 1,913 84% | 57k | $1.6M (exactly $1,606,346) | Triangle Factory | |
 | Landlord's Super | older | $19.99 | 1,442 80% | 43k | $865k (exactly $864,767) | Minskworks |
 | Angel at Dusk | older | $14.99 | 1,676 98% | 50k | $754k (exactly $753,697) | Akiragoya |
 | Shadows of Forbidden Gods | older | $19.99 | 1,046 91% | 31k | $627k (exactly $627,286) | Bobby Two Hands |
 | Capes | older | $39.99 | 446 67% | 13k | $535k (exactly $535,066) | Spitfire Interactive |
 | Brigador Killers | · EA | $24.99 | 572 69% | 17k | $429k (exactly $428,828) | Stellar Jockeys, Gausswerks |
 | Extinction Day | $19.99 | 206 74% | 6.2k | $124k (exactly $123,538) | DryGin Studios | |
 | Glitchpunk | $19.99 | 174 47% | 5.2k | $104k (exactly $104,348) | Dark Lord | |
 | Masks of the Void: Origins | $14.99 | 108 97% | 3.2k | $49k (exactly $48,568) | ROLLDBOX GAMES | |
 | Deep Space Exploitation | $8.99 | 131 96% | 3.9k | $35k (exactly $35,331) | JuhrJuhr | |
 | Desolation Seed | · EA | $14.99 | 69 63% | 2.1k | $31k (exactly $31,029) | ECS Software |
 | Cosmic Miners | · EA | $9.99 | 60 53% | 1.8k | $18k (exactly $17,982) | bitByte Games |
 | Disaster Arms - Impact Project B.A.H.N. | $9.99 | 57 100% | 1.7k | $17k (exactly $17,083) | PD_CGT | |
 | Star Mining Co. | $8.99 | 29 82% | 870 | $7.8k (exactly $7,821) | Barney Whiteman |
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.