Games › Space Sim › Space Sim + Futuristic
Should I ship a Futuristic Space Sim?
Space Sim + Futuristic
Of 124 developers who shipped a Futuristic Space Sim 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.. 235 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $540, ×0.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $670k, ×1076 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 235 games are announced against 76 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $540 (exactly $540) |
| Top 25% | $4.0k (exactly $3,984) |
| Top 5% | $676k (exactly $675,704) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 124 |
| Released games | 390 |
| Announced | 235 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 35% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Space Sim
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Futuristic
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Space Sim; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Exploration, Strategy
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 6 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 $6.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 19,665 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 62 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 235 games are announced against 76 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Space Sim with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DestructionFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + WarFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SportsFair
- + DiplomacyLong shot
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Strategy RPGPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
Comparable games
Hardspace: Shipbreaker 2022 · $20M 
SpaceEngine 2019 · EA · $14M 
Void Crew 2024 · $4.9M 
Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown 2026 · $4.4M 
Star Trucker 2024 · $3.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hardspace: Shipbreaker | older | $34.99 | 19,431 89% | 583k | $20M (exactly $20,396,721) | Blackbird Interactive |
| | SpaceEngine | · EA older | $29.99 | 15,826 96% | 475k | $14M (exactly $14,238,652) | Cosmographic Software |
| | Void Crew | $24.99 | 6,573 86% | 197k | $4.9M (exactly $4,927,778) | Hutlihut Games | |
| | Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | $34.99 | 4,162 79% | 125k | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) | Gamexcite | |
| | Star Trucker | older | $24.99 | 4,928 77% | 148k | $3.7M (exactly $3,694,522) | Monster and Monster |
 | Starpoint Gemini 2 | older | $34.99 | 3,021 70% | 91k | $3.2M (exactly $3,171,144) | Little Green Men Games |
 | Chorus | older | $24.99 | 3,876 81% | 116k | $2.9M (exactly $2,905,837) | Deep Silver Fishlabs |
 | Dune: Imperium | older | $22.99 | 3,806 94% | 114k | $2.6M (exactly $2,624,998) | Dire Wolf |
 | Angels Fall First | $17.99 | 3,835 81% | 115k | $2.1M (exactly $2,069,749) | Strangely Interactive Ltd | |
 | Industries of Titan | older | $29.99 | 1,553 61% | 47k | $1.4M (exactly $1,397,234) | Brace Yourself 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 |
 | Space for Sale | $19.99 | 140 50% | 4.2k | $84k (exactly $83,958) | Mirage Game Studios | |
 | Outlive 25 | $11.99 | 204 93% | 6.1k | $73k (exactly $73,379) | Continuum Entertainment | |
 | Utopia Colony | $16.99 | 99 63% | 3.0k | $50k (exactly $50,460) | GridSky Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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