Games › Resource Management › Resource Management + Dwarves
Should I ship a Dwarf Resource Management game?
Resource Management + Dwarves
Only 15 developers shipped a Dwarf Resource Management 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, Orebound, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $11k, ×17 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $1.1k. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 24 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
|---|---|
| Median | $11k (exactly $10,793) |
| Top 25% | $233k (exactly $233,283) |
| Top 5% | $708k (exactly $708,466) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 27 |
| Announced | 24 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 550% 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.
- Resource Management
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Dwarves
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Resource Management; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Base Building, Building, Mining
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 3,844 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 4 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Resource Management with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + WesternFair
- + SnowFair
- + JRPGFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + HorsesFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
- + Time TravelFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dwarf Fortress | older | $29.99 | 29,303 94% | 879k | $26M (exactly $26,363,909) | Bay 12 Games |
| | Craft The World | older | $18.99 | 15,074 88% | 452k | $8.6M (exactly $8,587,658) | Dekovir Entertainment, Sibear Games |
| | Regions Of Ruin | older | $11.99 | 1,972 84% | 59k | $709k (exactly $709,328) | Gameclaw Studio |
| | Orebound | · EA | $24.99 | 945 77% | 28k | $708k (exactly $708,466) | Emberforge |
| | Desktop Dungeons | older | $14.99 | 1,134 88% | 34k | $510k (exactly $509,960) | QCF Design |
| | Dwarf Eats Mountain | $9.99 | 1,114 80% | 33k | $334k (exactly $333,866) | Green Wizard | |
| | Medieval Crafter: Blacksmith | $11.99 | 745 76% | 22k | $268k (exactly $267,976) | Compact Core Games | |
| | Regions of Ruin: Runegate | $19.99 | 389 84% | 12k | $233k (exactly $233,283) | Gameclaw Studio | |
| | Diggles: The Myth of Fenris | older | $9.99 | 619 89% | 19k | $186k (exactly $185,514) | Spieleentwicklungskombinat GmbH, Genera… (Spieleentwicklungskombinat GmbH, General Arcade) |
| | Below the Stone | · EA older | $14.99 | 391 83% | 12k | $176k (exactly $175,833) | Strollart |
| | Hold The Mine | · EA | $14.99 | 338 83% | 10k | $152k (exactly $151,999) | Hookaria Games |
| | Blacksmith: Ignite the Forge | $9.99 | 103 73% | 3.1k | $31k (exactly $30,869) | Floodgate Crew | |
| | Mining and Dwarves | $6.99 | 140 65% | 4.2k | $29k (exactly $29,358) | Sockhouse Studios | |
| | Drill Rift | $14.99 | 24 75% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | Steam Veil Games | |
| | Dworf's Forbidden Gold | $4.99 | 35 57% | 1.1k | $5.2k (exactly $5,240) | Hadamant | |
| | The Drunken Beard | $4.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $1.6k (exactly $1,647) | JMP Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.