Games › Destruction › Destruction + Economy
Should I ship an Economy Destruction game?
Destruction + Economy
Of 24 developers who shipped an Economy 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.. 94 more are announced, ×5.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.0k, ×3.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $610k, ×977 the market median. Revenue is up 120% on the market; 94 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.0k (exactly $1,977) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $19,780) |
| Top 5% | $614k (exactly $613,792) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 24 |
| Released games | 67 |
| Announced | 94 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 120% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, 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
- Economy
- 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
- Destruction, Economy; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Simulation, Building
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 74% positive over 6,542 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 94 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.9 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
Tropico 6 2019 · $24M 
Gas Station Simulator 2021 · $14M 
Dawn of Man 2019 · $13M 
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries 2021 · $12M 
Hotel Renovator 2023 · $1.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tropico 6 | older | $39.99 | 19,837 88% | 595k | $24M (exactly $23,798,449) | Limbic Entertainment, Realmforge Studios |
| | Gas Station Simulator | older | $19.99 | 23,839 88% | 715k | $14M (exactly $14,296,248) | DRAGO entertainment |
| | Dawn of Man | older | $24.99 | 17,094 86% | 513k | $13M (exactly $12,815,372) | Madruga Works |
| | MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries | older | $29.99 | 13,347 84% | 400k | $12M (exactly $12,008,296) | Piranha Games Inc. |
| | Hotel Renovator | older | $24.99 | 2,223 77% | 67k | $1.7M (exactly $1,666,583) | Two Horizons |
 | House Builder | older | $19.99 | 2,194 79% | 66k | $1.3M (exactly $1,315,742) | FreeMind S.A. |
 | Train Station Renovation | older | $18.99 | 1,979 84% | 59k | $1.1M (exactly $1,127,436) | Live Motion Games |
 | Builder Simulator | older | $19.99 | 1,637 72% | 49k | $982k (exactly $981,709) | Live Motion Games, Frozen Way |
 | Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 | older | $19.99 | 1,580 68% | 47k | $948k (exactly $947,526) | Play2Chill S.A. |
 | Deconstruction Simulator | $19.99 | 1,374 74% | 41k | $824k (exactly $823,988) | Games Incubator, Hypnotic Ants | |
 | Keep Digging | $6.99 | 2,927 79% | 88k | $614k (exactly $613,792) | Wild Dog | |
 | BLACKWOOD | $24.99 | 565 46% | 17k | $424k (exactly $423,580) | AttritoM7 Productions | |
 | Fracture Field | $6.99 | 1,196 75% | 36k | $251k (exactly $250,801) | Type Ten | |
 | Junkyard Builder | $14.99 | 223 70% | 6.7k | $100k (exactly $100,283) | FreeMind S.A. | |
 | The Dream Office | $9.99 | 66 86% | 2.0k | $20k (exactly $19,780) | BEPLAYER, Nesalis Games | |
 | Holiday Motel Simulator | · EA | $12.99 | 49 63% | 1.5k | $19k (exactly $19,095) | Red Phoenix Interactive |
 | Cosmic Miners | · EA | $9.99 | 60 53% | 1.8k | $18k (exactly $17,982) | bitByte Games |
 | Lichgate: Tower Survivor | $6.99 | 57 75% | 1.7k | $12k (exactly $11,953) | Sun Lion Games | |
 | Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders | $11.99 | 25 44% | 750 | $9.0k (exactly $8,992) | MeanAstronauts |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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