Games › Physics › Physics + Futuristic
Should I ship a Futuristic Physics game?
Physics + Futuristic
Of 219 developers who shipped a Futuristic Physics 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.. 404 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450 in the last 2 years and $480 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 125 developers shipped in the last year and 404 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $2.7k (exactly $2,696) |
| Top 5% | $81k (exactly $80,573) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 219 |
| Released games | 632 |
| Announced | 404 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 10% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Physics
- effort 5 / 10 · low · emergent simulation bugs need hands-on tuning
- Futuristic
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Physics; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $18.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 9,919 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 116 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 404 games are announced against 125 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Physics with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + PinballFair
- + World War IIFair
- + Mini GolfFair
- + GolfFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + CatsFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + BilliardsFair
Comparable games
Battlefield™ 2042 2021 · $468M 
Hardspace: Shipbreaker 2022 · $20M 
VTOL VR 2017 · $18M 
Crysis 3 Remastered 2022 · $7.0M 
Star Trucker 2024 · $3.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Battlefield™ 2042 | older | $59.99 | 260,308 49% | 7.8M | $468M (exactly $468,476,308) | DICE |
| | Hardspace: Shipbreaker | older | $34.99 | 19,431 89% | 583k | $20M (exactly $20,396,721) | Blackbird Interactive |
| | VTOL VR | older | $29.99 | 19,885 98% | 597k | $18M (exactly $17,890,534) | Boundless Dynamics, LLC |
| | Crysis 3 Remastered | older | $29.99 | 7,731 88% | 232k | $7.0M (exactly $6,955,581) | Crytek, Saber Interactive |
| | Star Trucker | older | $24.99 | 4,928 77% | 148k | $3.7M (exactly $3,694,522) | Monster and Monster |
 | Silica | · EA older | $19.99 | 4,468 77% | 134k | $2.7M (exactly $2,679,460) | Martin 'Dram' Melichárek |
 | VOID/BREAKER | · EA | $29.99 | 2,506 91% | 75k | $2.3M (exactly $2,254,648) | Stubby Games |
 | POPUCOM | $19.99 | 3,432 87% | 103k | $2.1M (exactly $2,058,170) | Hypergryph | |
 | The Entropy Centre | older | $19.99 | 3,359 89% | 101k | $2.0M (exactly $2,014,392) | Stubby Games |
 | SpiderHeck | older | $14.99 | 3,922 93% | 118k | $1.8M (exactly $1,763,723) | Neverjam |
 | Solar Expanse - Space Exploration Manager | · EA | $17.99 | 1,252 87% | 38k | $676k (exactly $675,704) | SpaceOps |
 | IRON REBELLION | $24.99 | 772 84% | 23k | $579k (exactly $578,768) | Black Beach Studio | |
 | Stars Reach | · EA | $29.99 | 322 52% | 9.7k | $290k (exactly $289,703) | Playable Worlds, Inc. |
 | Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate | $49.99 | 149 62% | 4.5k | $223k (exactly $223,455) | Mighty Eyes | |
 | Machinika: Atlas | $11.99 | 574 76% | 17k | $206k (exactly $206,468) | Littlefield Studio | |
 | Of Lies and Rain | $39.99 | 171 79% | 5.1k | $205k (exactly $205,149) | Castello Inc | |
 | BAIONLENJA | · EA | $12.99 | 510 97% | 15k | $199k (exactly $198,747) | BAION |
 | Space Accident VR | $16.99 | 231 82% | 6.9k | $118k (exactly $117,741) | VR-WRG |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.