Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Futuristic

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Futuristic Flight game?

Flight + Futuristic

Of 93 developers who shipped a Futuristic 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.. 168 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $89; 1 in 20 cleared $22k, ×36 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 168 games are announced against 49 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 30% on the market, 168 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Futuristic
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 93
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $779 → $1.1k → $1.5k → $298 → $299 → $299 → $718 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Futuristic: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 93
Bottom 30% $89 (exactly $89)
Median $449 (exactly $449)
Top 25% $1.8k (exactly $1,799)
Top 5% $23k (exactly $22,789)
Developers, 2 yr 93
Released games 358
Announced 168
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $6.99

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 30% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Flight
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Futuristic
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Flight; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Simulation
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 2,469 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $89, median $450, 1 in 4 over $1.7k, 1 in 20 over $22k.

3 in 10 developers made under $89. All of the 52 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 168 games are announced against 49 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Flight with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair9 devs · median $2.4k · 11 announced
  2. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $1.3k · 10 announced
  3. + Quick-Time EventsFair9 devs · median $657 · 9 announced
  4. + CatsFair6 devs · median $629 · 10 announced
  5. + Life SimPoor odds12 devs · median $70k · 29 announced
  6. + TradingPoor odds6 devs · median $36k · 21 announced
  7. + MiningPoor odds10 devs · median $35k · 13 announced
  8. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $19k · 57 announced
  9. + Base BuildingPoor odds23 devs · median $17k · 48 announced
  10. + EconomyPoor odds20 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  11. + RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $15k · 18 announced
  12. + Cold WarPoor odds10 devs · median $11k · 16 announced

All 132 pairs on the Flight page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

VTOL VR 2017 · $18M Bomb Rush Cyberfunk 2023 · $15M SpaceEngine 2019 · EA · $14M Starpoint Gemini 2 2014 · $3.2M Chorus 2021 · $2.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
VTOL VR older $29.99 19,885 98% 597k $18M (exactly $17,890,534) Boundless Dynamics, LLC
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk older $39.99 12,645 98% 379k $15M (exactly $15,170,206) Team Reptile
SpaceEngine · EA older $29.99 15,826 96% 475k $14M (exactly $14,238,652) Cosmographic Software
Starpoint Gemini 2 older $34.99 3,021 70% 91k $3.2M (exactly $3,171,144) Little Green Men Games
Chorus older $24.99 3,876 81% 116k $2.9M (exactly $2,905,837) Deep Silver Fishlabs
Spin Rhythm XD older $19.99 3,788 97% 114k $2.3M (exactly $2,271,664) Super Spin Digital
BallisticNG older $14.99 2,285 95% 69k $1.0M (exactly $1,027,564) Neognosis
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw older $29.99 942 65% 28k $848k (exactly $847,517) Double Damage Games
Solargene $34.99 777 77% 23k $816k (exactly $815,617) Alexander Semenov
Approximately Up $24.99 995 93% 30k $746k (exactly $745,952) Approximately Games
Starbreed $10.99 271 95% 8.1k $89k (exactly $89,349) RegulusNSFW
Deep Space Exploitation $8.99 131 96% 3.9k $35k (exactly $35,331) JuhrJuhr
Max Mustard $19.99 38 94% 1.1k $23k (exactly $22,789) Toast Interactive
Cosmic Miners · EA $9.99 60 53% 1.8k $18k (exactly $17,982) bitByte Games
Star Racer $9.99 59 93% 1.8k $18k (exactly $17,682) Whatnot Games
WarOS · EA $19.99 29 72% 870 $17k (exactly $17,391) The7 Studio
Dart Racer · EA $9.99 41 90% 1.2k $12k (exactly $12,288) LubSoft
Don't Crash $4.99 68 98% 2.0k $10k (exactly $10,180) Override Studio

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.