Do I ship it?

Games › Procedural Generation › Procedural Generation + Hidden Object

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Procedural Generation Hidden Object?

Procedural Generation + Hidden Object

Of 58 developers who shipped a Procedural Generation Hidden Object 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.. 56 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $420, ×0.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $60. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 56 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 35% on the market, 56 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Procedural Generation + Hidden Object
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 58
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.3k → $1.1k → $1.2k → $3.9k → $538 → $240 → $298 (still earning) → $839 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Procedural Generation + Hidden Object: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 58
Bottom 30% $60 (exactly $60)
Median $418 (exactly $418)
Top 25% $3.9k (exactly $3,892)
Top 5% $121k (exactly $121,324)
Developers, 2 yr 58
Released games 141
Announced 56
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 as many developers as the period before.

Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Procedural Generation
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Hidden Object
effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Procedural Generation, Hidden Object; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Action
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 3D, First-Person
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 3,429 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $60, median $420, 1 in 4 over $3.8k, 1 in 20 over $120k.

3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 34 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Procedural Generation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + SnowFair11 devs · median $3.0k · 16 announced
  2. + Traditional RoguelikeFair71 devs · median $2.0k · 93 announced
  3. + DetectiveFair29 devs · median $1.5k · 30 announced
  4. + Word GameFair22 devs · median $1.3k · 23 announced
  5. + TypingFair26 devs · median $1.1k · 11 announced
  6. + IdlerFair98 devs · median $807 · 107 announced
  7. + LogicFair137 devs · median $478 · 149 announced
  8. + Walking SimulatorFair57 devs · median $449 · 62 announced
  9. + Precision PlatformerFair49 devs · median $449 · 42 announced
  10. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds31 devs · median $77k · 95 announced
  11. + TrainsPoor odds22 devs · median $30k · 35 announced
  12. + SailingPoor odds10 devs · median $27k · 40 announced

All 222 pairs on the Procedural Generation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Cozy Grove 2021 · $3.4M Approximately Up 2026 · $746k PANELKI 2022 · $576k NO-SKIN 2025 · $257k Voxelgram 2019 · $205k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Cozy Grove older $14.99 7,512 89% 225k $3.4M (exactly $3,378,146) Spry Fox
Approximately Up $24.99 995 93% 30k $746k (exactly $745,952) Approximately Games
PANELKI older $7.99 2,404 86% 72k $576k (exactly $576,239) Alexander Gromyko
NO-SKIN $6.99 1,227 95% 37k $257k (exactly $257,302) NoEye-Soft
Voxelgram older $9.99 684 98% 21k $205k (exactly $204,995) Procedural Level
CAPTURED $6.45 627 95% 19k $121k (exactly $121,324) Puck Redflix
Frozen Ship · EA $19.99 142 76% 4.3k $85k (exactly $85,157) Nionetix
Spectator older $12.99 113 93% 3.4k $44k (exactly $44,036) Minechan, Neko Machine
Cave Digger 2 Dig Harder older $15.99 81 88% 2.4k $39k (exactly $38,856) VRKiwi
Voxelgram 2 $9.99 111 85% 3.3k $33k (exactly $33,267) Procedural Level
Dreadway $6.99 101 67% 3.0k $21k (exactly $21,180) ZweiBier Indie
PLATONICA SPACE $9.99 58 68% 1.7k $17k (exactly $17,383) Kazuhide Oka
Nonogram 3D : Mega Puzzle $7.99 70 94% 2.1k $17k (exactly $16,779) Seven Jams
Spectator 2 $12.99 33 72% 990 $13k (exactly $12,860) Neko Machine, Minechan
Willie's Nightfall $4.99 65 78% 2.0k $9.7k (exactly $9,730) Runebox Game Studio

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.