Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Mars

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Mars Flight game?

Flight + Mars

Only 10 developers shipped a Mars Flight 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, Solargene, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 12 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 5 developers shipped in the last year and 12 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 1690% on the market, 12 announced, ×2.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Mars
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 10
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.5k → $60 → $718 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Mars: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 10
Bottom 30% $60 (exactly $60)
Median $299 (exactly $299)
Top 25% $599 (exactly $599)
Top 5% $816k (exactly $815,617)
Developers, 2 yr 10
Released games 36
Announced 12
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.99

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 1690% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.

Free games: 6%, 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
Mars
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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
Price point
$5.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 8 games average 77% positive over 792 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $60, median $300, 1 in 4 over $590, 1 in 20 over $810k.

3 in 10 developers made under $60. All of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 12 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 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

Solargene 2026 · $816k LEAP 2023 · $98k DemonStar 2023 · $22k Aery - A New Frontier 2022 · $16k Rocket Explorer 2021 · EA · $9.4k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Solargene $34.99 777 77% 23k $816k (exactly $815,617) Alexander Semenov
LEAP older $14.99 219 52% 6.6k $98k (exactly $98,484) Blue Isle Studios
DemonStar older $2.99 248 94% 7.4k $22k (exactly $22,246) Scott Host
Aery - A New Frontier older $9.99 53 98% 1.6k $16k (exactly $15,884) EpiXR Games UG
Rocket Explorer · EA older $12.99 24 58% 720 $9.4k (exactly $9,353) Stanley Creative
Belt Colony · EA older $19.99 13 69% 390 $7.8k (exactly $7,796) GridSky Studios
T. B. P. older $24.99 8 87% 240 $6.0k (exactly $5,998) Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich
Jetpack astronaut older $9.99 12 75% 360 $3.6k (exactly $3,596) Stas Paty9mkin
Red Planet Rampart older $11.99 9 77% 270 $3.2k (exactly $3,237) Beijing 1023 Technology CO., Ltd
Birchian Flight Simulator · EA older $19.99 4 75% 120 $2.4k (exactly $2,399) BirchTree, Generalissimo Birchimus, Cap… (BirchTree, Generalissimo Birchimus, Captain Birchia, Lieutenant Soli Deo Gloria, The ZFC defined set of all developers of the Birchian 6D metaverse inside the 5th Phase of the Birchian Universe, after Setember of 2024.)
Gravity Cab $3.99 6 83% 180 $718 (exactly $718) Tamas Kincses
Critical Descent $9.99 2 100% 60 $599 (exactly $599) Endless Abyss Games
Rank: Warmaster Bunker Buster $14.99 1 100% 30 $450 (exactly $450) Laser Beams & Particle Streams Soft… (Laser Beams & Particle Streams Software, Inc.)
Blood Aliens 3 $4.99 2 100% 60 $299 (exactly $299) Ciberrex Games
Space Shooter - Tryü Sora $2.99 2 50% 60 $179 (exactly $179) DeadFly.Games
Pink Devil $1.99 1 100% 30 $60 (exactly $60) Lola Fisher
FalconLander $1.99 1 100% 30 $60 (exactly $60) Ned Wire
Space Vortex $25.00 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Hosny
Area51 $5.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Jon Fabris

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