Games › Flight › Flight + Economy
Should I ship an Economy Flight game?
Flight + Economy
Of 20 developers who shipped an Economy Flight 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.. 45 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $15k, ×24 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.0k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.9M, ×4728 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 45 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.9k (exactly $1,918) |
|---|---|
| Median | $15k (exactly $15,103) |
| Top 25% | $197k (exactly $196,798) |
| Top 5% | $3.0M (exactly $2,969,115) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 20 |
| Released games | 60 |
| Announced | 45 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $12.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Flight, Economy; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Base Building, Sandbox
- Price point
- $12.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $12.99.
The top 10 games average 75% positive over 9,815 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.0k. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 45 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Flight with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Choose Your Own AdventureFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
- + CatsFair
- + Life SimPoor odds
- + TradingPoor odds
- + MiningPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + RTSPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + BuildingPoor odds
Comparable games
X4: Foundations 2018 · $38M 
Transport Fever 2 2019 · $32M 
Avorion 2020 · $9.7M 
Transport Fever 2016 · $8.3M 
Airport CEO 2021 · $5.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | X4: Foundations | older | $49.99 | 25,257 79% | 758k | $38M (exactly $37,877,923) | Egosoft |
| | Transport Fever 2 | older | $39.99 | 26,714 89% | 801k | $32M (exactly $32,048,786) | Urban Games |
| | Avorion | older | $24.99 | 13,001 90% | 390k | $9.7M (exactly $9,746,850) | Boxelware |
| | Transport Fever | older | $29.99 | 9,278 82% | 278k | $8.3M (exactly $8,347,417) | Urban Games |
| | Airport CEO | older | $24.99 | 7,752 83% | 233k | $5.8M (exactly $5,811,674) | Apog Labs |
 | X Rebirth | older | $29.99 | 5,156 42% | 155k | $4.6M (exactly $4,638,853) | Egosoft |
 | SpaceBourne 2 | $19.99 | 4,951 75% | 149k | $3.0M (exactly $2,969,115) | Burak Dabak | |
 | SimAirport | older | $24.99 | 3,909 79% | 117k | $2.9M (exactly $2,930,577) | LVGameDev LLC |
 | Starminer | · EA | $29.99 | 1,818 72% | 55k | $1.6M (exactly $1,635,655) | CoolAndGoodGames |
 | Ground of Aces | · EA | $29.99 | 1,415 84% | 42k | $1.3M (exactly $1,273,076) | Blindflug Studios AG |
 | Solargene | $34.99 | 777 77% | 23k | $816k (exactly $815,617) | Alexander Semenov | |
 | Cabin Crew Life Simulator | · EA | $12.99 | 505 70% | 15k | $197k (exactly $196,798) | SOGA Std |
 | Terminal One | $19.99 | 96 66% | 2.9k | $58k (exactly $57,571) | Terminal Reality | |
 | Airport Baggage Simulator | $17.99 | 100 92% | 3.0k | $54k (exactly $53,970) | Three River Games (3RG) | |
 | Cosmic Miners | · EA | $9.99 | 60 53% | 1.8k | $18k (exactly $17,982) | bitByte Games |
 | Airline Ops | · EA | $14.99 | 37 29% | 1.1k | $17k (exactly $16,639) | Smoky Bay Studio |
 | HEXSTORM: Tears of Arcadia | $8.99 | 56 75% | 1.7k | $15k (exactly $15,103) | Tearevo |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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