Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Racing

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Flight Racing game?

Flight + Racing

Of 78 developers who shipped a Flight Racing 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.. 137 more are announced, ×3.0 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 $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 45 developers shipped in the last year and 137 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 100% on the market, 137 announced, ×3.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Racing
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 78
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.4k → $299 → $599 → $179 → $180 → $898 → $300 (still earning) → $299 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Racing: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 78
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $299 (exactly $299)
Top 25% $1.5k (exactly $1,498)
Top 5% $18k (exactly $17,993)
Developers, 2 yr 78
Released games 344
Announced 137
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
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 100% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Flight
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Racing
effort 6 / 10 · low · vehicle handling, track content and opponent AI

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, Racing; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Simulation
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 93% positive over 2,574 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 $300, 1 in 4 over $1.4k, 1 in 20 over $17k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 39 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 137 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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. + 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

The Crew™ 2 2018 · $78M Brick Rigs 2023 · $32M Trailmakers 2019 · $25M Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing 2018 · $8.2M SimplePlanes 2015 · $3.8M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
The Crew™ 2 older $29.99 86,533 78% 2.6M $78M (exactly $77,853,740) Ivory Tower
Brick Rigs older $19.99 53,749 95% 1.6M $32M (exactly $32,233,275) Fluppisoft GmbH
Trailmakers older $24.99 33,465 92% 1.0M $25M (exactly $25,088,710) Flashbulb
Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing older $19.99 13,633 95% 409k $8.2M (exactly $8,175,710) LuGus Studios
SimplePlanes older $12.99 9,811 93% 294k $3.8M (exactly $3,823,347) Jundroo, LLC
Uncrashed : FPV Drone Simulator older $14.99 7,770 95% 233k $3.5M (exactly $3,494,169) Luminite
Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator older $49.99 1,956 79% 59k $2.9M (exactly $2,933,413) IPACS
Aerofly FS 4 Flight Simulator older $59.99 1,400 89% 42k $2.5M (exactly $2,519,580) IPACS
Redout: Enhanced Edition older $19.99 3,438 84% 103k $2.1M (exactly $2,061,769) 34BigThings srl
TRYP FPV: Drone Racer Simulator · EA older $16.99 3,155 85% 95k $1.6M (exactly $1,608,103) UNDEAD BATTERY
Liftoff®: Micro Drones $15.99 1,418 92% 43k $680k (exactly $680,215) LuGus Studios
Firehawk: FPV Drone Shooter $19.99 494 91% 15k $296k (exactly $296,252) TruePlayers
The Zone - FPV Drone Simulator · EA $13.99 386 97% 12k $162k (exactly $162,004) Nils Vollenbruch (@nils vo)
XFlight: FPV Drone Simulator $24.99 24 79% 720 $18k (exactly $17,993) Lingsrealm Technology
Star Racer $9.99 59 93% 1.8k $18k (exactly $17,682) Whatnot Games
Dart Racer · EA $9.99 41 90% 1.2k $12k (exactly $12,288) LubSoft
Drone Simulator VR $13.99 27 96% 810 $11k (exactly $11,332) 0Space
Don't Crash $4.99 68 98% 2.0k $10k (exactly $10,180) Override Studio
Highway Drifter: Hajwala Simulator $9.99 30 86% 900 $9.0k (exactly $8,991) Mad Hook
Project Hover · EA $9.99 27 88% 810 $8.1k (exactly $8,092) Ulysses Graphics

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