Games › Exploration › Exploration + Time Attack
Should I ship an Exploration Time Attack game?
Exploration + Time Attack
Only 14 developers shipped an Exploration Time Attack 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, Hoverflow, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $67k, ×142 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 24 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $718 (exactly $718) |
| Top 25% | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) |
| Top 5% | $67k (exactly $67,455) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 132 |
| Announced | 24 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $0.99 |
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 flat on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Exploration
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Time Attack
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Exploration, Time Attack; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Puzzle, Collectathon, Creature Collector
- Price point
- $0.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Cartoony, Cozy
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $0.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 1,017 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 42 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Exploration with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + SpaceshipsFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + WuxiaPoor odds
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Martial ArtsPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + FMVPoor odds
- + FarmingPoor odds
Comparable games
Mirror's Edge™ 2009 · $19M 
Motor Town: Behind The Wheel 2021 · EA · $5.4M 
Hot Lava 2019 · $3.2M 
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom 2024 · $826k 
Hoverflow 2026 · $67k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Mirror's Edge™ | older | $19.99 | 31,195 87% | 936k | $19M (exactly $18,707,642) | DICE |
| | Motor Town: Behind The Wheel | · EA older | $19.99 | 8,971 93% | 269k | $5.4M (exactly $5,379,909) | P3 Games |
| | Hot Lava | older | $19.99 | 5,335 92% | 160k | $3.2M (exactly $3,199,399) | Klei Entertainment |
| | Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom | older | $16.99 | 1,621 97% | 49k | $826k (exactly $826,224) | Panik Arcade |
| | Hoverflow | $14.99 | 150 93% | 4.5k | $67k (exactly $67,455) | Simon In Motion | |
 | Whitewater VR: Extreme Kayaking Adventure | older | $19.99 | 82 81% | 2.5k | $49k (exactly $49,175) | Adam Horvath |
 | Glyph☀️ | older | $9.99 | 106 92% | 3.2k | $32k (exactly $31,768) | Bolverk Games |
 | Ells Tales: Chairbound | $1.99 | 269 81% | 8.1k | $16k (exactly $16,059) | Ells&Pills | |
 | Super Dangerous Dungeons | older | $4.99 | 106 98% | 3.2k | $16k (exactly $15,868) | Adventure Islands |
 | Tiny Dangerous Dungeons | older | $4.99 | 83 95% | 2.5k | $12k (exactly $12,425) | Adventure Islands |
 | 100 Cats London | $1.99 | 111 96% | 3.3k | $6.6k (exactly $6,627) | 100 Cats | |
 | 100 Cats Singapore | $0.99 | 113 93% | 3.4k | $3.4k (exactly $3,356) | 100 Cats | |
 | 100 Cats Belgrade | $1.99 | 54 90% | 1.6k | $3.2k (exactly $3,224) | 100 Cats | |
 | The Confinement | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | Mr. Dev Studio | |
 | Find Cats in the Casino | $0.99 | 94 94% | 2.8k | $2.8k (exactly $2,792) | MeowSignal | |
 | 100 Cats Mexico | $0.99 | 89 89% | 2.7k | $2.6k (exactly $2,643) | 100 Cats | |
 | Hidden Pets: 101 Cats in Tokyo | $0.99 | 72 88% | 2.2k | $2.1k (exactly $2,138) | NaipSoft | |
 | Hidden Pets: 101 Cats in Los Angeles | $0.99 | 55 90% | 1.7k | $1.6k (exactly $1,634) | NaipSoft |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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