Do I ship it?

Games › Destruction › Destruction + Mining

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Mining Destruction game?

Destruction + Mining

Of 41 developers who shipped a Mining 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.. 63 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $4.2k, ×6.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $250k, ×399 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 63 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 6.7 times the market baseline, revenue down 75% on the market, 63 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Destruction + Mining
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 41
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $75k → $13k → $7.8k → $2.6k → $2.4k (still earning) → $7.5k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Destruction + Mining: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 41
Bottom 30% $898 (exactly $898)
Median $4.2k (exactly $4,190)
Top 25% $18k (exactly $18,263)
Top 5% $251k (exactly $250,801)
Developers, 2 yr 41
Released games 71
Announced 63
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 down 75% on the market, supply 210% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, 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
Mining
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

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, Mining; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Idler, Incremental
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $8.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $8.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 12,257 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $900, median $4.2k, 1 in 4 over $18k, 1 in 20 over $250k.

3 in 10 developers made under $900. 6 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 63 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.

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. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $719 · 14 announced
  5. + Hack and SlashPoor odds19 devs · median $43k · 57 announced
  6. + HistoricalPoor odds15 devs · median $26k · 22 announced
  7. + CapitalismPoor odds17 devs · median $15k · 46 announced
  8. + Online Co-OpPoor odds37 devs · median $13k · 102 announced
  9. + Co-opPoor odds50 devs · median $11k · 113 announced
  10. + Automobile SimPoor odds22 devs · median $9.0k · 44 announced
  11. + ManagementPoor odds36 devs · median $6.1k · 129 announced
  12. + AutomationPoor odds22 devs · median $6.0k · 46 announced

All 139 pairs on the Destruction page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Space Engineers 2 2025 · EA · $4.6M To The Core 2023 · $1.2M Keep Digging 2025 · $614k Fracture Field 2026 · $251k You Know The Drill 2026 · $153k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Space Engineers 2 · EA $29.99 5,095 74% 153k $4.6M (exactly $4,583,972) Keen Software House
To The Core older $7.99 5,087 92% 153k $1.2M (exactly $1,219,354) SomethingExtra
Keep Digging $6.99 2,927 79% 88k $614k (exactly $613,792) Wild Dog
Fracture Field $6.99 1,196 75% 36k $251k (exactly $250,801) Type Ten
You Know The Drill $4.99 1,022 92% 31k $153k (exactly $152,993) ludokai
Smash Hit Museum $6.99 507 85% 15k $106k (exactly $106,318) InIt Games
BLASTRONAUT · EA older $18.99 158 74% 4.7k $90k (exactly $90,013) Perfoon
Out of Orbit · EA older $14.99 166 79% 5.0k $75k (exactly $74,650) Case Yellow Labs
Rock Crusher $6.99 352 84% 11k $74k (exactly $73,814) Mini Fun Games
DigDigDrill $3.99 607 95% 18k $73k (exactly $72,658) Toorai
Deep Space Exploitation $8.99 131 96% 3.9k $35k (exactly $35,331) JuhrJuhr
Far Mining $2.99 368 95% 11k $33k (exactly $33,010) LostVolBytes
Gathera · EA $13.99 52 82% 1.6k $22k (exactly $21,824) Catris Games

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