Games › Simulation › Simulation + Futuristic
Should I ship a Futuristic Simulation game?
Simulation + Futuristic
Of 383 developers who shipped a Futuristic Simulation 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.. 646 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×1.9 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $270k, ×440 the market median. Revenue is up 40% on the market; 646 games are announced against 236 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) |
| Top 25% | $7.6k (exactly $7,645) |
| Top 5% | $276k (exactly $276,208) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 383 |
| Released games | 1,117 |
| Announced | 646 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 40% on the market, supply 55% 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.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Futuristic
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Management
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 76,156 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 192 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 646 games are announced against 236 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Call of Duty®: Black Ops III 2015 · $284M 
Stellaris 2016 · $210M 
REMATCH 2025 · $36M 
Hardspace: Shipbreaker 2022 · $20M 
VTOL VR 2017 · $18M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Call of Duty®: Black Ops III | older | $59.99 | 157,694 88% | 4.7M | $284M (exactly $283,801,892) | Treyarch, Aspyr (Mac) |
| | Stellaris | older | $49.99 | 139,718 85% | 4.2M | $210M (exactly $209,535,085) | Paradox Development Studio |
| | REMATCH | $29.99 | 39,905 70% | 1.2M | $36M (exactly $35,902,528) | Sloclap | |
| | 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 |
 | Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ | older | $39.99 | 14,047 61% | 421k | $17M (exactly $16,852,186) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
 | SpaceEngine | · EA older | $29.99 | 15,826 96% | 475k | $14M (exactly $14,238,652) | Cosmographic Software |
 | Homeworld Remastered Collection | older | $34.99 | 11,977 87% | 359k | $13M (exactly $12,572,257) | Gearbox Software, Aspyr (Mac) |
 | shapez 2 - Factory | $29.99 | 13,846 96% | 415k | $12M (exactly $12,457,246) | tobspr Games | |
 | MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries | older | $29.99 | 13,347 84% | 400k | $12M (exactly $12,008,296) | Piranha Games Inc. |
 | MechWarrior 5: Clans | $29.99 | 5,565 74% | 167k | $5.0M (exactly $5,006,830) | Piranha Games Inc. | |
 | Void Crew | $24.99 | 6,573 86% | 197k | $4.9M (exactly $4,927,778) | Hutlihut Games | |
 | Angels Fall First | $17.99 | 3,835 81% | 115k | $2.1M (exactly $2,069,749) | Strangely Interactive Ltd | |
 | PLATiNA :: LAB | $19.99 | 1,780 50% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,067,466) | HIGH-END Games | |
 | Farlands | $17.99 | 1,628 89% | 49k | $879k (exactly $878,632) | JanduSoft, Eric Rodríguez | |
 | Solargene | $34.99 | 777 77% | 23k | $816k (exactly $815,617) | Alexander Semenov | |
 | Approximately Up | $24.99 | 995 93% | 30k | $746k (exactly $745,952) | Approximately Games | |
 | Solar Expanse - Space Exploration Manager | · EA | $17.99 | 1,252 87% | 38k | $676k (exactly $675,704) | SpaceOps |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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