Do I ship it?

GamesFlightFlight + Mystery

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Mystery Flight game?

Flight + Mystery

Only 6 developers shipped a Mystery 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, Overlook Trail, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 16 more are announced, ×8.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

Only 2 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $90 against a market of $630. 16 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.1 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 16 announced, ×8.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Mystery
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 6
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.2k → $505 → $59
Outcomes for Flight + Mystery: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 6
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $90 (exactly $90)
Top 25% $2.7k (exactly $2,728)
Top 5% $3.4k (exactly $3,414)
Developers, 2 yr 6
Released games 42
Announced 16
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $2.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 50% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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
Mystery
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high 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
$2.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.

The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 88% positive over 5,427 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $90, 1 in 4 over $2.7k, 1 in 20 over $3.4k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 16 games are announced against 2 developers who shipped in the last year, ×8.0 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

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Exo One older $16.99 5,053 89% 152k $2.6M (exactly $2,575,514) Exbleative
Earth Analog older $19.99 101 65% 3.0k $61k (exactly $60,570) Funcraft Games
Mare older $19.99 39 79% 1.2k $23k (exactly $23,388) Lonekite Games
Tales of Cosmos older $14.99 34 79% 1.0k $15k (exactly $15,290) Red Dwarf Games
Tex Murphy: Mean Streets older $5.99 69 75% 2.1k $12k (exactly $12,399) Access Software
Murder Diaries older $9.99 27 85% 810 $8.1k (exactly $8,092) EpiXR Games UG
Murder Diaries 2 older $9.99 24 100% 720 $7.2k (exactly $7,193) EpiXR Games UG
Hadr older $4.99 43 86% 1.3k $6.4k (exactly $6,437) Dominik Konečný, Ateliér Duchů
Aery - Vikings older $9.99 20 90% 600 $6.0k (exactly $5,994) EpiXR Games UG
Murder Diaries 3 - Santa's Trail of Blood older $9.99 17 94% 510 $5.1k (exactly $5,095) EpiXR Games UG
Overlook Trail $5.99 19 100% 570 $3.4k (exactly $3,414) Longhand Electric
Out of Time $12.99 7 71% 210 $2.7k (exactly $2,728) KTVR Lab
Bird Like $2.99 1 100% 30 $90 (exactly $90) SoftPower
Rocket Rush $0.99 2 100% 60 $59 (exactly $59) Broken Byte Studios
Hap to Day $0.99 1 100% 30 $30 (exactly $30) Fenigem
Dreaming $1.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Kangyoongu

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