Games › Economy › Economy + Time Manipulation
Should I ship a Time Manipulation Economy game?
Economy + Time Manipulation
Only 18 developers shipped a Time Manipulation Economy 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, Hotel Architect, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 23 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, ×0.8 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $1.7M, ×2771 the market median. Revenue is up 135% on the market; 23 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $478 (exactly $478) |
| Top 25% | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) |
| Top 5% | $1.7M (exactly $1,740,020) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 48 |
| Announced | 23 |
| 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 135% on the market, supply 25% 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
- Time Manipulation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Economy, Time Manipulation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Building, City Builder
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 2,330 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. All of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 23 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 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
F1® Manager 2024 2024 · $5.8M 
Hotel Architect 2026 · $1.7M 
SeaOrama: World of Shipping 2023 · $229k 
Train World 2023 · $89k 
Check Inn 2025 · $89k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | F1® Manager 2024 | older | $34.99 | 5,554 83% | 167k | $5.8M (exactly $5,830,034) | Frontier Developments |
| | Hotel Architect | $29.99 | 1,934 94% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,740,020) | Pathos Interactive | |
| | SeaOrama: World of Shipping | older | $19.99 | 382 58% | 11k | $229k (exactly $229,085) | Hidden Tower, SeaOrama |
| | Train World | older | $34.99 | 85 75% | 2.6k | $89k (exactly $89,224) | Turn Point Games |
| | Check Inn | $14.99 | 197 84% | 5.9k | $89k (exactly $88,591) | KishMish Games | |
 | Hotel Giant 2 | older | $7.99 | 268 47% | 8.0k | $64k (exactly $64,240) | Enlight Software Limited, PerspectX |
 | Oasis Mission: Colony Sim | $14.99 | 91 56% | 2.7k | $41k (exactly $40,923) | Lunar pug studio | |
 | Poop Clicker | older | $0.99 | 725 76% | 22k | $22k (exactly $21,532) | Serge Kornew |
 | Industry Giant | older | $9.99 | 70 77% | 2.1k | $21k (exactly $20,979) | QLOC |
 | Spaceport Trading Company | · EA older | $14.99 | 33 87% | 990 | $15k (exactly $14,840) | Digital Tectonics, LLC |
 | Day Trade Coach | $14.99 | 17 47% | 510 | $7.6k (exactly $7,645) | Ragnar Beaucoup | |
 | Arcade Empire Tycoon | $4.99 | 25 68% | 750 | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) | Mind Inside Games | |
 | Ghostify | $3.99 | 27 81% | 810 | $3.2k (exactly $3,232) | LightTriadGames | |
 | Hardware Store & Workshop Simulator | · EA | $0.99 | 24 79% | 720 | $713 (exactly $713) | Superwolf Game Studio |
 | Ultimate Car Company Tycoon | · EA | $6.99 | 3 33% | 90 | $629 (exactly $629) | Tengrava Games |
 | Infinite Idle: Online Clicker RPG | $1.99 | 8 37% | 240 | $478 (exactly $478) | Comar Studios | |
 | From Aristocrat's Pet to Culinary Queen: Reigning Over Flavors and Forbidden Desires | $3.29 | 4 25% | 120 | $395 (exactly $395) | Myriad |
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.