Do I ship it?

GamesDestructionDestruction + Hidden Object

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Hidden Object Destruction game?

Destruction + Hidden Object

Only 9 developers shipped a Hidden Object Destruction 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, Smash Hit Museum, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 14 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $210. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 14 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 14 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Destruction + Hidden Object
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 9
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $628 → $1.0k → $1.3k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Destruction + Hidden Object: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 9
Bottom 30% $208 (exactly $208)
Median $719 (exactly $719)
Top 25% $1.3k (exactly $1,254)
Top 5% $106k (exactly $106,318)
Developers, 2 yr 9
Released games 30
Announced 14
Effort 6 / 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 700% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 17%, 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.

Destruction
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Hidden Object
effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Destruction, Hidden Object
Price point
$4.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $2.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 1,307 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $210, median $720, 1 in 4 over $1.2k, 1 in 20 over $100k.

3 in 10 developers made under $210. 14 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Space SimFair14 devs · median $3.7k · 22 announced
  2. + ModernFair26 devs · median $1.6k · 28 announced
  3. + God GameFair19 devs · median $899 · 20 announced
  4. + Hack and SlashPoor odds19 devs · median $43k · 57 announced
  5. + HistoricalPoor odds15 devs · median $26k · 22 announced
  6. + CapitalismPoor odds17 devs · median $15k · 46 announced
  7. + Online Co-OpPoor odds37 devs · median $13k · 102 announced
  8. + Co-opPoor odds50 devs · median $11k · 113 announced
  9. + Automobile SimPoor odds22 devs · median $9.0k · 44 announced
  10. + ManagementPoor odds36 devs · median $6.1k · 129 announced
  11. + AutomationPoor odds22 devs · median $6.0k · 46 announced
  12. + CraftingPoor odds36 devs · median $4.9k · 101 announced

All 139 pairs on the Destruction page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Disassembly 3D older $29.99 309 81% 9.3k $278k (exactly $278,007) Khor Chin Heong
Disassembly VR older $29.99 157 59% 4.7k $141k (exactly $141,253) Khor Chin Heong
Smash Hit Museum $6.99 507 85% 15k $106k (exactly $106,318) InIt Games
Apocalyptic cat older $29.99 101 84% 3.0k $91k (exactly $90,870) Galactic Geckon
The Island older $1.99 95 45% 2.9k $5.7k (exactly $5,672) Ibis Games
A Game About Breaking Pots $5.99 27 100% 810 $4.9k (exactly $4,852) Glenn Verheij
Apollo 17 - Moonbuggy VR older $9.99 7 85% 210 $2.1k (exactly $2,098) VRX
Amazing Fix · EA older $0.99 50 94% 1.5k $1.5k (exactly $1,485) Nicolas Beaudette, Karl Dupere-Richer
Toddler Simulator older $1.49 33 63% 990 $1.5k (exactly $1,475) JoshCorp
Wobble Wobble $1.99 21 100% 630 $1.3k (exactly $1,254) Team Baeb Sae
Neko Neko Rampage $1.99 17 82% 510 $1.0k (exactly $1,015) BitCake Studio
Zelash: Dash and Slash $5.99 4 100% 120 $719 (exactly $719) Chris Aceto
Vanishing In The Island Halphéra $8.99 1 100% 30 $270 (exactly $270) Soghoxal
爪爪改造家2 PawRebuild 2 $0.99 7 85% 210 $208 (exactly $208) 冷笑黑妖
Black Signal $4.99 1 0% 30 $150 (exactly $150) Matthew Lalande
The Duck Amikaze Strikes Back $2.99 1 100% 30 $90 (exactly $90) Alexandre Mailliu

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