Games › Economy › Economy + Exploration
Should I ship an Exploration Economy game?
Economy + Exploration
Of 215 developers who shipped an Exploration Economy 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.. 466 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.7k, ×11 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×2676 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 466 games are announced against 136 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.7k (exactly $6,746) |
| Top 25% | $84k (exactly $83,958) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,680,827) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 215 |
| Released games | 444 |
| Announced | 466 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 down 10% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Economy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Exploration
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Economy, Exploration; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Management, Sandbox
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 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 80% positive over 74,378 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 6 in 10 of the 87 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 466 games are announced against 136 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Economy with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Football (Soccer)Fair
- + ScienceFair
- + MiningFair
- + LootFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + God GameFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
Comparable games
Euro Truck Simulator 2 2012 · $454M 
American Truck Simulator 2016 · $99M 
Anno 1800 2019 · $54M 
X4: Foundations 2018 · $38M 
Dwarf Fortress 2022 · $26M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Euro Truck Simulator 2 | older | $19.99 | 756,984 97% | 23M | $454M (exactly $453,963,305) | SCS Software |
| | American Truck Simulator | older | $19.99 | 165,692 97% | 5.0M | $99M (exactly $99,365,492) | SCS Software |
| | Anno 1800 | older | $59.99 | 29,854 81% | 896k | $54M (exactly $53,728,244) | Ubisoft Mainz |
| | X4: Foundations | older | $49.99 | 25,257 79% | 758k | $38M (exactly $37,877,923) | Egosoft |
| | Dwarf Fortress | older | $29.99 | 29,303 94% | 879k | $26M (exactly $26,363,909) | Bay 12 Games |
 | Anno 117: Pax Romana | $59.99 | 12,150 69% | 365k | $22M (exactly $21,866,355) | Ubisoft Mainz | |
 | The Riftbreaker | older | $29.99 | 22,127 90% | 664k | $20M (exactly $19,907,662) | EXOR Studios |
 | IXION | older | $34.99 | 15,281 77% | 458k | $16M (exactly $16,040,466) | Bulwark Studios |
 | Avorion | older | $24.99 | 13,001 90% | 390k | $9.7M (exactly $9,746,850) | Boxelware |
 | The Bus | $39.99 | 7,831 73% | 235k | $9.4M (exactly $9,394,851) | TML-Studios | |
 | Two Point Museum | $29.99 | 9,626 95% | 289k | $8.7M (exactly $8,660,512) | Two Point Studios | |
 | Railroads Online | $29.99 | 5,410 75% | 162k | $4.9M (exactly $4,867,377) | Stefan Kelnberger | |
 | Longvinter | $19.99 | 6,951 68% | 209k | $4.2M (exactly $4,168,515) | Uuvana Studios | |
 | Flotsam | $24.99 | 4,308 80% | 129k | $3.2M (exactly $3,229,708) | Pajama Llama Games | |
 | Ratopia | $22.00 | 4,639 87% | 139k | $3.1M (exactly $3,061,740) | Cassel Games | |
 | A Game About Digging A Hole™ | $4.99 | 18,785 89% | 564k | $2.8M (exactly $2,812,114) | DoubleBee | |
 | Surviving Mars: Relaunched | $39.99 | 2,202 55% | 66k | $2.6M (exactly $2,641,739) | Haemimont Games | |
 | Go-Go Town! | $27.99 | 2,476 93% | 74k | $2.1M (exactly $2,079,097) | Prideful Sloth |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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