Games › Economy › Economy + Incremental
Should I ship an Incremental Economy game?
Economy + Incremental
Of 408 developers who shipped an Incremental 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.. 612 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×3.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $600. Revenue is up 150% on the market; 612 games are announced against 324 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,157) |
| Top 25% | $17k (exactly $16,684) |
| Top 5% | $251k (exactly $250,801) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 408 |
| Released games | 695 |
| Announced | 612 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 150% on the market, supply 260% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, 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
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Economy, Incremental; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, Simulation, Management
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 70,623 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 7 in 10 of the 123 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 612 games are announced against 324 developers who shipped in the last year.
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
- + ArcadeFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
- + Grid-Based MovementFair
Comparable games
Cookie Clicker 2021 · $13M 
Touhou Mystia's Izakaya 2021 · $5.3M 
Scritchy Scratchy 2026 · $3.2M 
Shelldiver 2025 · $2.5M 
Startup Company 2020 · $2.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Cookie Clicker | older | $4.99 | 87,916 96% | 2.6M | $13M (exactly $13,161,025) | Orteil, DashNet |
| | Touhou Mystia's Izakaya | older | $5.99 | 29,517 98% | 886k | $5.3M (exactly $5,304,205) | 二色幽紫蝶, Re零同人社 |
| | Scritchy Scratchy | $6.99 | 15,245 94% | 457k | $3.2M (exactly $3,196,876) | Lunch Money Games | |
| | Shelldiver | $4.99 | 16,806 98% | 504k | $2.5M (exactly $2,515,858) | Gagonfe | |
| | Startup Company | older | $12.99 | 5,853 81% | 176k | $2.3M (exactly $2,280,914) | Hovgaard Games |
 | (the) Gnorp Apologue | older | $6.99 | 9,613 94% | 288k | $2.0M (exactly $2,015,846) | Myco |
 | Ravenous Devils | older | $4.99 | 9,477 92% | 284k | $1.4M (exactly $1,418,707) | Bad Vices Games |
 | Chillquarium | older | $5.99 | 7,780 92% | 233k | $1.4M (exactly $1,398,066) | Ben Reber |
 | Keep on Mining! | $4.99 | 8,300 93% | 249k | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,510) | EagleEye Games | |
 | Weedcraft Inc | older | $19.99 | 1,549 79% | 46k | $929k (exactly $928,935) | Vile Monarch |
 | Fortune Mill | $7.99 | 3,712 81% | 111k | $890k (exactly $889,766) | Lavaflame2 | |
 | Tower Wizard | $2.99 | 8,787 96% | 264k | $788k (exactly $788,194) | Barribob | |
 | Microcivilization | $17.99 | 1,437 78% | 43k | $776k (exactly $775,549) | Ondrej Homola | |
 | A Game About Feeding A Black Hole | $6.99 | 3,467 88% | 104k | $727k (exactly $727,030) | Aarimous, Thornity | |
 | Digseum | $2.99 | 8,033 97% | 241k | $721k (exactly $720,560) | Rat Monthly | |
 | Gamblers Table | $6.99 | 2,955 74% | 89k | $620k (exactly $619,664) | greenpixels, Bossforge | |
 | Scale the Depths | $9.99 | 1,881 88% | 56k | $564k (exactly $563,736) | Glass Gecko Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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