Games › Simulation › Simulation + Dwarves
Should I ship a Dwarf Simulation game?
Simulation + Dwarves
Only 16 developers shipped a Dwarf Simulation 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.. 34 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.2k, ×8.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $700k, ×1128 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 34 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $479 (exactly $479) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.2k (exactly $5,240) |
| Top 25% | $268k (exactly $267,976) |
| Top 5% | $708k (exactly $708,466) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 41 |
| Announced | 34 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 100% on the market, supply 335% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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
- Simulation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Mining, Resource Management
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cozy, Cute, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 4,874 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 2 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Total War: WARHAMMER II 2017 · $153M 
Total War: WARHAMMER 2016 · $58M 
Dwarf Fortress 2022 · $26M 
Craft The World 2014 · $8.6M 
KeeperRL 2024 · $1.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Total War: WARHAMMER II | older | $59.99 | 85,134 92% | 2.6M | $153M (exactly $153,215,660) | CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (M… (CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | Total War: WARHAMMER | older | $59.99 | 32,105 79% | 963k | $58M (exactly $57,779,368) | CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (L… (CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (Linux), Feral Interactive (Mac)) |
| | 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 |
| | KeeperRL | older | $19.99 | 1,677 83% | 50k | $1.0M (exactly $1,005,697) | Electric Succubi |
 | Orebound | · EA | $24.99 | 945 77% | 28k | $708k (exactly $708,466) | Emberforge |
 | Small Spaces | · EA | $12.99 | 1,479 89% | 44k | $576k (exactly $576,366) | smilestone games |
 | Knights of Pen and Paper 2 | older | $7.99 | 2,347 88% | 70k | $563k (exactly $562,576) | Kyy Games |
 | 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 | |
 | Gargadusa's Tower | $8.99 | 294 90% | 8.8k | $79k (exactly $79,292) | The Math Team | |
 | 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 | |
 | 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 | |
 | Mine It Down | $3.99 | 8 75% | 240 | $958 (exactly $958) | Topito Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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