Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Resource Management

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Resource Management Flight game?

Flight + Resource Management

Of 24 developers who shipped a Resource Management 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.. 58 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $5.7k, ×9.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $390; 1 in 20 cleared $810k, ×1299 the market median. Revenue is up 580% on the market; 58 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 9.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 580% on the market, 58 announced, ×3.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Resource Management
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 24
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $8.3k → $1.3k → $34k → $269 → $53k → $5.7k (still earning) → $7.8k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Resource Management: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 24
Bottom 30% $390 (exactly $390)
Median $5.7k (exactly $5,694)
Top 25% $53k (exactly $52,767)
Top 5% $816k (exactly $815,617)
Developers, 2 yr 24
Released games 59
Announced 58
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $9.99

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 580% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 20%, 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
Resource Management
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, Resource Management; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Base Building, Sandbox
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 83% positive over 3,589 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $390, median $5.7k, 1 in 4 over $52k, 1 in 20 over $810k.

3 in 10 developers made under $390. 8 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 58 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 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

Transport Fever 2 2019 · $32M Transport Fever 2016 · $8.3M Airport CEO 2021 · $5.8M SimAirport 2020 · $2.9M Ground of Aces 2025 · EA · $1.3M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Transport Fever 2 older $39.99 26,714 89% 801k $32M (exactly $32,048,786) Urban Games
Transport Fever older $29.99 9,278 82% 278k $8.3M (exactly $8,347,417) Urban Games
Airport CEO older $24.99 7,752 83% 233k $5.8M (exactly $5,811,674) Apog Labs
SimAirport older $24.99 3,909 79% 117k $2.9M (exactly $2,930,577) LVGameDev LLC
Ground of Aces · EA $29.99 1,415 84% 42k $1.3M (exactly $1,273,076) Blindflug Studios AG
Solargene $34.99 777 77% 23k $816k (exactly $815,617) Alexander Semenov
Air Defender · EA $20.19 364 78% 11k $220k (exactly $220,475) ROTOR3
Lakehopper · EA $9.99 479 88% 14k $144k (exactly $143,556) Photon Games
Puffin Planes older $11.99 340 94% 10k $122k (exactly $122,298) CATINRAIN LLC
Technicity older $17.99 200 75% 6.0k $108k (exactly $107,940) Osaris Games
Airport Baggage Simulator $17.99 100 92% 3.0k $54k (exactly $53,970) Three River Games (3RG)
I Fetch Rocks $15.99 110 94% 3.3k $53k (exactly $52,767) SarumXR
Deep Space Exploitation $8.99 131 96% 3.9k $35k (exactly $35,331) JuhrJuhr
Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire $24.99 45 64% 1.4k $34k (exactly $33,736) Octeto Studios
Firefly Village $8.99 112 86% 3.4k $30k (exactly $30,206) Josh Koenig Games
HEXSTORM: Tears of Arcadia $8.99 56 75% 1.7k $15k (exactly $15,103) Tearevo

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