Games › Flight › Flight + Transportation
Should I ship a Transportation Flight game?
Flight + Transportation
Of 27 developers who shipped a Transportation 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.. 43 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×4.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $190k, ×313 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 43 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $718 (exactly $718) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,699) |
| Top 25% | $23k (exactly $22,603) |
| Top 5% | $197k (exactly $196,798) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 27 |
| Released games | 75 |
| Announced | 43 |
| 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 down 35% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Transportation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Flight, Transportation; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Exploration, Sandbox
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 10,650 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 8 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 43 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Flight with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Choose Your Own AdventureFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
- + CatsFair
- + Life SimPoor odds
- + TradingPoor odds
- + MiningPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + EconomyPoor odds
- + RTSPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
Comparable games
| 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 |
| | Aviassembly | · EA | $9.99 | 9,323 96% | 280k | $2.8M (exactly $2,794,103) | Jelle Booij |
| | Tower! Simulator 3 | older | $59.99 | 1,047 67% | 31k | $1.9M (exactly $1,884,286) | FeelThere |
| | Fly Corp | older | $14.99 | 3,112 85% | 93k | $1.4M (exactly $1,399,466) | KishMish Games |
| | I am an Air Traffic Controller 4 | older | $59.99 | 566 79% | 17k | $1.0M (exactly $1,018,630) | TechnoBrain |
| | Frontier Pilot Simulator | older | $24.99 | 836 69% | 25k | $627k (exactly $626,749) | RAZAR s.r.o. |
| | Flight Of Nova | · EA older | $29.99 | 537 93% | 16k | $483k (exactly $483,139) | Aerovery Lab |
| | Mini Airways - ATC simulator | older | $9.99 | 1,339 92% | 40k | $401k (exactly $401,298) | CCC Games, Erabit |
| | Cabin Crew Life Simulator | · EA | $12.99 | 505 70% | 15k | $197k (exactly $196,798) | SOGA Std |
| | Lakehopper | · EA | $9.99 | 479 88% | 14k | $144k (exactly $143,556) | Photon Games |
| | Terminal One | $19.99 | 96 66% | 2.9k | $58k (exactly $57,571) | Terminal Reality | |
| | ATC Ground Point | $15.99 | 77 81% | 2.3k | $37k (exactly $36,937) | Blueon | |
| | TAXINAUT | $19.99 | 39 87% | 1.2k | $23k (exactly $23,388) | mosgrom | |
| | SKYSAVIOR Helicopter Services | · EA | $12.99 | 58 100% | 1.7k | $23k (exactly $22,603) | Raphael do Amaral de Albuquerque |
| | Airline Ops | · EA | $14.99 | 37 29% | 1.1k | $17k (exactly $16,639) | Smoky Bay Studio |
| | Void Cargo: Equilibrium | $12.99 | 20 70% | 600 | $7.8k (exactly $7,794) | Hammer&Hammer | |
| | Pocket and Zooom | $15.99 | 16 75% | 480 | $7.7k (exactly $7,675) | TechnoBrain |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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