Games › God Game › God Game + Space
Should I ship a Space God Game?
God Game + Space
Only 16 developers shipped a Space God Game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Planetary Life, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 31 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $810, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $320k, ×522 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 31 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $360 (exactly $360) |
|---|---|
| Median | $807 (exactly $807) |
| Top 25% | $4.3k (exactly $4,313) |
| Top 5% | $328k (exactly $328,046) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 68 |
| Announced | 31 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 650% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- God Game; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Sandbox, Simulation, Life Sim
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $13.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Relaxing, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $13.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 1,290 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 31 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
God Game with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + HistoricalFair
- + EconomyFair
- + PuzzleFair
- + Inventory ManagementFair
- + DestructionFair
- + DystopianFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + ArcadeLong shot
- + Farming SimLong shot
- + AgricultureLong shot
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SPORE™ | older | $19.99 | 66,871 92% | 2.0M | $40M (exactly $40,102,539) | Maxis™ |
| | Universe Sandbox | · EA older | $29.99 | 27,843 96% | 835k | $25M (exactly $25,050,347) | Giant Army |
| | The Universim | older | $29.99 | 8,465 79% | 254k | $7.6M (exactly $7,615,960) | Crytivo |
| | SPORE™ Galactic Adventures | older | $19.99 | 7,249 89% | 217k | $4.3M (exactly $4,347,225) | EA - Maxis |
| | Stardeus | · EA older | $29.99 | 1,430 87% | 43k | $1.3M (exactly $1,286,571) | Kodo Linija |
| | SPORE™ Creepy & Cute Parts Pack | older | $19.99 | 2,053 89% | 62k | $1.2M (exactly $1,231,184) | Maxis™ |
| | Megaton Rainfall | older | $15.99 | 2,155 71% | 65k | $1.0M (exactly $1,033,754) | Pentadimensional Games, SL |
| | The Fermi Paradox | · EA older | $18.99 | 956 76% | 29k | $545k (exactly $544,633) | Anomaly Games |
| | Solar 2 | older | $9.99 | 1,574 91% | 47k | $472k (exactly $471,728) | Murudai |
| | Mountain | older | $0.99 | 12,921 88% | 388k | $384k (exactly $383,754) | David OReilly |
| | Planetary Life | · EA | $11.99 | 912 94% | 27k | $328k (exactly $328,046) | Sotenbox |
| | ANLIFE: Motion-Learning Life Evolution | $13.99 | 161 83% | 4.8k | $68k (exactly $67,572) | Attructure Inc. | |
| | Once Upon The Universe | · EA | $14.99 | 32 93% | 960 | $14k (exactly $14,390) | Paweł Witkowski ByteEncode |
| | Galactic Simulator2: Stargate | $5.99 | 42 78% | 1.3k | $7.5k (exactly $7,547) | PcZ Games | |
| | Inspiral: Echoes of Gravity | $3.99 | 57 73% | 1.7k | $6.8k (exactly $6,823) | PcZ Games | |
| | StarShip-DF | · EA | $5.99 | 24 100% | 720 | $4.3k (exactly $4,313) | 四哥 |
| | A Game About Getting Bigger | $3.99 | 16 87% | 480 | $1.9k (exactly $1,915) | PcZ Games | |
| | Stellar Industrialist | $2.99 | 18 88% | 540 | $1.6k (exactly $1,615) | PcZ Games | |
| | Cosmotiles | $4.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) | Meru Patel | |
| | My Little Cosmos | $1.99 | 18 88% | 540 | $1.1k (exactly $1,075) | PcZ Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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