Games › Destruction › Destruction + Sci-fi
Should I ship a Sci-fi Destruction game?
Destruction + Sci-fi
Of 106 developers who shipped a Sci-fi 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.. 193 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 $360; 1 in 20 cleared $420k, ×683 the market median. Revenue is down 15% on the market; 193 games are announced against 58 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) |
| Top 25% | $10k (exactly $10,490) |
| Top 5% | $429k (exactly $428,828) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 106 |
| Released games | 328 |
| Announced | 193 |
| 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 down 15% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, 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
- Sci-fi
- 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; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Physics, Shooter
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Retro
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 13,556 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 58 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 193 games are announced against 58 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 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
Universe Sandbox 2015 · EA · $25M 
Hardspace: Shipbreaker 2022 · $20M 
Trepang2 2023 · $19M 
Planetary Annihilation: TITANS 2015 · $10M 
Stranded: Alien Dawn 2023 · $10M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Universe Sandbox | · EA older | $29.99 | 27,843 96% | 835k | $25M (exactly $25,050,347) | Giant Army |
| | Hardspace: Shipbreaker | older | $34.99 | 19,431 89% | 583k | $20M (exactly $20,396,721) | Blackbird Interactive |
| | Trepang2 | older | $39.99 | 15,774 93% | 473k | $19M (exactly $18,924,068) | Trepang Studios |
| | Planetary Annihilation: TITANS | older | $29.99 | 11,401 84% | 342k | $10M (exactly $10,257,480) | Planetary Annihilation Inc |
| | Stranded: Alien Dawn | older | $34.99 | 9,715 84% | 291k | $10M (exactly $10,197,836) | Haemimont Games |
 | Destroy All Humans! | older | $29.99 | 8,971 92% | 269k | $8.1M (exactly $8,071,209) | Black Forest Games, Pandemic Studios |
 | Starbase | · EA older | $34.99 | 6,217 56% | 187k | $6.5M (exactly $6,525,985) | Frozenbyte |
 | EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair | older | $19.99 | 7,776 95% | 233k | $4.7M (exactly $4,663,267) | SANDLOT |
 | Exoprimal | older | $59.99 | 2,581 76% | 77k | $4.6M (exactly $4,645,026) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
 | Space Engineers 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 5,095 74% | 153k | $4.6M (exactly $4,583,972) | Keen Software House |
 | VOID/BREAKER | · EA | $29.99 | 2,506 91% | 75k | $2.3M (exactly $2,254,648) | Stubby Games |
 | Clone Drone in the Hyperdome | $19.99 | 1,048 91% | 31k | $628k (exactly $628,486) | Doborog Games | |
 | Star Fire: Eternal Cycle | $16.99 | 1,012 91% | 30k | $516k (exactly $515,816) | Ethereal Fish Studio | |
 | Bionic Bay | $19.99 | 750 84% | 23k | $450k (exactly $449,775) | Psychoflow Studio, Mureena Oy | |
 | Brigador Killers | · EA | $24.99 | 572 69% | 17k | $429k (exactly $428,828) | Stellar Jockeys, Gausswerks |
 | Galactic Glitch | $12.99 | 920 89% | 28k | $359k (exactly $358,524) | Crunchy Leaf Games | |
 | Annihilate The Spance | · EA | $29.99 | 347 90% | 10k | $312k (exactly $312,196) | Skyglow Softworks |
 | Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks | $19.99 | 493 85% | 15k | $296k (exactly $295,652) | Caged Element | |
 | Mech Havoc | · EA | $9.99 | 813 96% | 24k | $244k (exactly $243,656) | Mid Development |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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