Games › Sandbox › Sandbox + Hidden Object
Should I ship a Hidden Object Sandbox?
Sandbox + Hidden Object
Of 99 developers who shipped a Hidden Object Sandbox 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.. 127 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $200; 1 in 20 cleared $210k, ×349 the market median. Revenue is up 140% on the market; 127 games are announced against 56 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $191 (exactly $191) |
|---|---|
| Median | $896 (exactly $896) |
| Top 25% | $4.4k (exactly $4,404) |
| Top 5% | $219k (exactly $219,454) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 99 |
| Released games | 253 |
| Announced | 127 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 140% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Sandbox
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Hidden Object
- effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sandbox, Hidden Object; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Exploration, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 9,194 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $200. 8 in 10 of the 60 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 127 games are announced against 56 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Sandbox with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FightingStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + CatsFair
- + SportsFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Trading Card GameFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
Approximately Up 2026 · $746k 
Ship, Inc. 2025 · $650k 
PANELKI 2022 · $576k 
The Witch of Fern Island 2024 · $525k 
My Wife Threw Out My Card Collection (So I Bought a Dump to Find Them All) ⭐ 2025 · $382k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Approximately Up | $24.99 | 995 93% | 30k | $746k (exactly $745,952) | Approximately Games | |
| | Ship, Inc. | $9.99 | 2,168 83% | 65k | $650k (exactly $649,750) | Rogue Duck Interactive | |
| | PANELKI | older | $7.99 | 2,404 86% | 72k | $576k (exactly $576,239) | Alexander Gromyko |
| | The Witch of Fern Island | older | $24.99 | 700 69% | 21k | $525k (exactly $524,790) | Enjoy Studio S.A. |
| | My Wife Threw Out My Card Collection (So I Bought a Dump to Find Them All) ⭐ | $7.95 | 1,601 65% | 48k | $382k (exactly $381,838) | Polnoch | |
 | Center Station Simulator | · EA older | $19.99 | 554 87% | 17k | $332k (exactly $332,234) | Nightmare Phoenix |
 | Disassembly 3D | older | $29.99 | 309 81% | 9.3k | $278k (exactly $278,007) | Khor Chin Heong |
 | Sort Them Ducks | $5.99 | 1,461 92% | 44k | $263k (exactly $262,542) | Mr.Duck | |
 | LIFE EFFECT Survival | · EA | $14.99 | 488 85% | 15k | $219k (exactly $219,454) | LIFE EFFECT |
 | Cockroach Simulator | older | $2.99 | 2,364 79% | 71k | $212k (exactly $212,051) | HFM Games |
 | Take me, Vitaly | $5.99 | 1,136 98% | 34k | $204k (exactly $204,139) | Старый Билд | |
 | GlitchSPANKR | $19.99 | 275 96% | 8.3k | $165k (exactly $164,918) | Mahelyk, TheClassifiedX | |
 | Cozy Organizer | $7.99 | 649 67% | 19k | $156k (exactly $155,565) | Rogue Duck Interactive | |
 | Forest Doesn’t Care | $13.99 | 251 65% | 7.5k | $105k (exactly $105,345) | MOROZ GAMES | |
 | Real Feel | $19.99 | 170 64% | 5.1k | $102k (exactly $101,949) | Entropy Digital Entertainment |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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