Games › Simulation › Simulation + Hex Grid
Should I ship a Hex Grid Simulation game?
Simulation + Hex Grid
Of 56 developers who shipped a Hex Grid 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.. 105 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.9k, ×6.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $410k, ×663 the market median. Revenue is up 15% on the market; 105 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.9k (exactly $3,897) |
| Top 25% | $25k (exactly $24,762) |
| Top 5% | $416k (exactly $416,192) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 56 |
| Released games | 192 |
| Announced | 105 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 up 15% on the market, supply as many developers as 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.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Hex Grid
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Hex Grid; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Turn-Based Strategy, Building
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 53% positive over 50,267 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 7 in 10 of the 28 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 105 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, 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
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016 · $497M 
Sid Meier's Civilization® V 2010 · $115M 
Sid Meier's Civilization VII 2025 · $94M 
HUMANKIND™ 2021 · $33M 
Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ 2014 · $17M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI | older | $59.99 | 276,113 86% | 8.3M | $497M (exactly $496,920,566) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization® V | older | $29.99 | 128,186 95% | 3.8M | $115M (exactly $115,328,944) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization VII | $69.99 | 44,789 48% | 1.3M | $94M (exactly $94,043,463) | Firaxis Games | |
| | HUMANKIND™ | older | $49.99 | 22,165 68% | 665k | $33M (exactly $33,240,850) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
| | 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)) |
 | King's Bounty II | older | $39.99 | 4,473 61% | 134k | $5.4M (exactly $5,366,258) | Fulqrum Games |
 | Panzer Corps 2 | older | $39.99 | 3,512 84% | 105k | $4.2M (exactly $4,213,346) | Flashback Games |
 | Opus Magnum | older | $19.99 | 5,964 97% | 179k | $3.6M (exactly $3,576,611) | Zachtronics |
 | Millennia | older | $39.99 | 2,976 67% | 89k | $3.6M (exactly $3,570,307) | C Prompt Games |
 | Galactic Civilizations IV | older | $39.99 | 2,207 72% | 66k | $2.6M (exactly $2,647,738) | Stardock Entertainment |
 | Plan B: Terraform | $15.99 | 3,526 91% | 106k | $1.7M (exactly $1,691,422) | Gaddy Games | |
 | Kaizen: A Factory Story | $19.99 | 694 91% | 21k | $416k (exactly $416,192) | Coincidence | |
 | MoteMancer | · EA | $29.99 | 243 91% | 7.3k | $219k (exactly $218,627) | CyanAvatar Studios |
 | Rogue Hex | $19.99 | 260 89% | 7.8k | $156k (exactly $155,922) | Topstitch Games | |
 | EcoGnomix | $19.99 | 216 74% | 6.5k | $130k (exactly $129,535) | Irox Games | |
 | Humanica | · EA | $14.99 | 192 93% | 5.8k | $86k (exactly $86,342) | PanfachDev |
 | High Seas, High Profits! | $14.99 | 165 86% | 5.0k | $74k (exactly $74,200) | lexy.zip | |
 | Clonizer | $14.99 | 146 82% | 4.4k | $66k (exactly $65,656) | Juicy Plume | |
 | 大戦略SSB2 | $59.99 | 36 66% | 1.1k | $65k (exactly $64,789) | Systemsoft beta, Inc. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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