Games › Economy › Economy + Transportation
Should I ship a Transportation Economy game?
Economy + Transportation
Of 60 developers who shipped a Transportation 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.. 128 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.9k, ×9.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.4k; 1 in 20 cleared $470k, ×753 the market median. Revenue is down 40% on the market; 128 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.3k (exactly $1,347) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.9k (exactly $5,865) |
| Top 25% | $27k (exactly $26,846) |
| Top 5% | $473k (exactly $472,682) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 60 |
| Released games | 179 |
| Announced | 128 |
| 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 40% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Transportation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Economy, Transportation; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Management, Sandbox
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 74% positive over 12,892 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.4k. 8 in 10 of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 128 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 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 
Cities: Skylines II 2023 · $96M 
Transport Fever 2 2019 · $32M 
Captain of Industry 2022 · EA · $12M | 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 |
| | Cities: Skylines II | older | $49.99 | 64,211 57% | 1.9M | $96M (exactly $96,297,237) | Iceflake Studios, Colossal Order |
| | Transport Fever 2 | older | $39.99 | 26,714 89% | 801k | $32M (exactly $32,048,786) | Urban Games |
| | Captain of Industry | · EA older | $34.99 | 11,027 90% | 331k | $12M (exactly $11,575,042) | MaFi Games |
 | Derail Valley | · EA older | $39.99 | 9,442 96% | 283k | $11M (exactly $11,327,567) | Altfuture |
 | Eco | · EA older | $29.99 | 11,375 80% | 341k | $10M (exactly $10,234,088) | Strange Loop Games |
 | The Bus | $39.99 | 7,831 73% | 235k | $9.4M (exactly $9,394,851) | TML-Studios | |
 | Transport Fever | older | $29.99 | 9,278 82% | 278k | $8.3M (exactly $8,347,417) | Urban Games |
 | Railway Empire | older | $29.99 | 7,219 82% | 217k | $6.5M (exactly $6,494,934) | Gaming Minds Studios |
 | Ore Factory Squad ⛏️ | $12.99 | 1,646 87% | 49k | $641k (exactly $641,446) | threeW | |
 | Subway Builder | $39.99 | 394 59% | 12k | $473k (exactly $472,682) | Colin Miller, EJ Fox, Curran Kelleher,… (Colin Miller, EJ Fox, Curran Kelleher, Nate Maue, Alex Wohlbruck, Piero Maddaleni, Brooks Flannery) | |
 | Railroad Corporation 2 | $39.99 | 376 69% | 11k | $451k (exactly $451,087) | Corbie Games | |
 | Fuel Harvest Together | $13.99 | 879 69% | 26k | $369k (exactly $368,916) | Say2Sun | |
 | Worldwide Rush | $19.99 | 559 77% | 17k | $335k (exactly $335,232) | Memel Games | |
 | Cabin Crew Life Simulator | · EA | $12.99 | 505 70% | 15k | $197k (exactly $196,798) | SOGA Std |
 | Heavy Cargo - The Truck Simulator | $24.99 | 222 53% | 6.7k | $166k (exactly $166,433) | tox² interactive GmbH | |
 | Factory Town 2: Paradise | · EA | $24.99 | 151 89% | 4.5k | $113k (exactly $113,205) | Erik Asmussen |
 | Super Loco World - Cozy Train Automation | $9.99 | 329 76% | 9.9k | $99k (exactly $98,601) | Andrii Bychkovskyi |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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