Games › Destruction › Destruction + Simulation
Should I ship a Simulation Destruction game?
Destruction + Simulation
Of 140 developers who shipped a Simulation 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.. 335 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.8k, ×4.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $2.7M, ×4449 the market median. Revenue is up 70% on the market; 335 games are announced against 98 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $898 (exactly $898) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.8k (exactly $2,844) |
| Top 25% | $36k (exactly $35,610) |
| Top 5% | $2.8M (exactly $2,794,103) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 140 |
| Released games | 515 |
| Announced | 335 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 70% on the market, supply 120% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, 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
- Simulation
- 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, Simulation; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Physics, Action, Sandbox
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Realistic, 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 136,026 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 7 in 10 of the 54 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 335 games are announced against 98 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 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
BeamNG.drive 2015 · EA · $291M 
Teardown 2022 · $114M 
People Playground 2019 · $89M 
Total War: THREE KINGDOMS 2019 · $76M 
WARDOGS 2026 · EA · $70M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BeamNG.drive | · EA older | $24.99 | 388,236 97% | 12M | $291M (exactly $291,060,529) | BeamNG |
| | Teardown | older | $29.99 | 126,563 95% | 3.8M | $114M (exactly $113,868,731) | Tuxedo Labs |
| | People Playground | older | $9.99 | 298,158 98% | 8.9M | $89M (exactly $89,357,953) | mestiez |
| | Total War: THREE KINGDOMS | older | $39.99 | 63,110 82% | 1.9M | $76M (exactly $75,713,067) | CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (M… (CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | WARDOGS | · EA | $39.99 | 58,250 81% | 1.7M | $70M (exactly $69,882,525) | BULKHEAD |
 | Brick Rigs | older | $19.99 | 53,749 95% | 1.6M | $32M (exactly $32,233,275) | Fluppisoft GmbH |
 | Men of War: Assault Squad 2 | older | $29.99 | 35,744 91% | 1.1M | $32M (exactly $32,158,877) | Digitalmindsoft |
 | WorldBox - God Simulator | · EA older | $19.99 | 51,071 95% | 1.5M | $31M (exactly $30,627,279) | Maxim Karpenko |
 | Wreckfest | older | $29.99 | 31,390 87% | 942k | $28M (exactly $28,241,583) | Bugbear |
 | Universe Sandbox | · EA older | $29.99 | 27,843 96% | 835k | $25M (exactly $25,050,347) | Giant Army |
 | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
 | Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades | $19.99 | 22,774 97% | 683k | $14M (exactly $13,657,568) | RUST LTD. | |
 | Wreckfest 2 | · EA | $34.99 | 5,578 73% | 167k | $5.9M (exactly $5,855,227) | Bugbear |
 | Space Engineers 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 5,095 74% | 153k | $4.6M (exactly $4,583,972) | Keen Software House |
 | Over The Top: WWI | $19.14 | 6,683 84% | 200k | $3.8M (exactly $3,837,379) | Flying Squirrel Entertainment | |
 | Aviassembly | · EA | $9.99 | 9,323 96% | 280k | $2.8M (exactly $2,794,103) | Jelle Booij |
 | Bills Must Be Paid | $6.99 | 9,928 96% | 298k | $2.1M (exactly $2,081,902) | Rike Games | |
 | Call to Arms: Panzer Elite | · EA | $29.99 | 1,927 69% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,733,722) | Digitalmindsoft |
 | Funnel Runners | · EA | $14.99 | 2,941 83% | 88k | $1.3M (exactly $1,322,568) | Supernova Studios LLC |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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