Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Mining

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Mining Flight game?

Flight + Mining

Only 10 developers shipped a Mining 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, SpaceBourne 2, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 13 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $35k, ×56 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $2.9M, ×4728 the market median. Revenue is up 115% on the market; 13 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 56.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 115% on the market, 13 announced, ×2.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Mining
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: $22k → $53k → $36k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Mining: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 10
Bottom 30% $479 (exactly $479)
Median $35k (exactly $35,331)
Top 25% $53k (exactly $52,767)
Top 5% $3.0M (exactly $2,969,115)
Developers, 2 yr 10
Released games 32
Announced 13
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $12.99

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 115% on the market, supply 50% more developers than 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
Mining
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, Mining
Price point
$12.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 8 games average 75% positive over 7,188 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $480, median $35k, 1 in 4 over $52k, 1 in 20 over $2.9M.

3 in 10 developers made under $480. 6 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 13 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Flight with a different second tag, 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. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $19k · 57 announced
  8. + Base BuildingPoor odds23 devs · median $17k · 48 announced
  9. + EconomyPoor odds20 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  10. + RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $15k · 18 announced
  11. + Cold WarPoor odds10 devs · median $11k · 16 announced
  12. + BuildingPoor odds26 devs · median $9.7k · 67 announced

All 132 pairs on the Flight page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

SpaceBourne 2 2025 · $3.0M Starminer 2026 · EA · $1.6M Void Destroyer 2 2020 · $195k I Fetch Rocks 2025 · $53k Lost Fleet 2022 · EA · $40k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
SpaceBourne 2 $19.99 4,951 75% 149k $3.0M (exactly $2,969,115) Burak Dabak
Starminer · EA $29.99 1,818 72% 55k $1.6M (exactly $1,635,655) CoolAndGoodGames
Void Destroyer 2 older $9.99 652 80% 20k $195k (exactly $195,404) Iteration 11
I Fetch Rocks $15.99 110 94% 3.3k $53k (exactly $52,767) SarumXR
Lost Fleet · EA older $19.99 67 61% 2.0k $40k (exactly $40,180) InfinityNan Studios
Stellar Wanderer DX $19.99 60 71% 1.8k $36k (exactly $35,982) Dream Builder Studios
Deep Space Exploitation $8.99 131 96% 3.9k $35k (exactly $35,331) JuhrJuhr
Hazeron Starship older $19.99 55 70% 1.7k $33k (exactly $32,984) Hazeron Freehold LLC
Firefly Village $8.99 112 86% 3.4k $30k (exactly $30,206) Josh Koenig Games
Shrot older $6.99 109 89% 3.3k $23k (exactly $22,857) Spytihněv
Mega Roids $3.99 4 100% 120 $479 (exactly $479) PSD Labs LLC
Space Outpost Sigma $4.99 2 100% 60 $299 (exactly $299) SigmaReels
Obelisk Foundry $12.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) ZxStudio
Deep Haul $10.00 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) MJ Games

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