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Should I ship a Programming Immersive Sim?
Immersive Sim + Programming
Of 29 developers who shipped a Programming Immersive 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.. 46 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×1.6 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $200k, ×136 the market median. Revenue is up 55% on the market; 46 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $539 (exactly $539) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) |
| Top 25% | $23k (exactly $23,388) |
| Top 5% | $204k (exactly $204,007) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 29 |
| Released games | 73 |
| Announced | 46 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 55% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Immersive Sim
- effort 8 / 10 · low · effort 8 sits in the low band
- Programming
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Immersive Sim, Programming; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Logic, Puzzle
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Realistic, 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 2,351 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 46 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Immersive Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Trading Card GameStrong odds
- + MinigamesStrong odds
- + WesternStrong odds
- + BoxingStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + RomanceFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Split ScreenFair
Comparable games
Stormworks: Build and Rescue 2020 · $41M 
Grey Hack 2017 · EA · $1.1M 
City Game Studio: Your Game Dev Adventure Begins 2021 · $1.1M 
Uplink 2006 · $637k 
Main Assembly 2021 · $602k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Stormworks: Build and Rescue | older | $24.99 | 54,649 90% | 1.6M | $41M (exactly $40,970,355) | Geometa |
| | Grey Hack | · EA older | $19.99 | 1,801 90% | 54k | $1.1M (exactly $1,080,060) | Loading Home |
| | City Game Studio: Your Game Dev Adventure Begins | older | $19.99 | 1,779 91% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,066,866) | Binogure Studio 🐺 |
| | Uplink | older | $11.99 | 1,771 89% | 53k | $637k (exactly $637,029) | Introversion Software |
| | Main Assembly | older | $19.99 | 1,004 83% | 30k | $602k (exactly $602,099) | Bad Yolk Games |
 | Quadrilateral Cowboy | older | $19.99 | 897 92% | 27k | $538k (exactly $537,931) | Blendo Games |
 | Anonymous Hacker Simulator | older | $19.99 | 741 85% | 22k | $444k (exactly $444,378) | Sicarius |
 | ServiceIT: You can do IT | $12.99 | 676 56% | 20k | $263k (exactly $263,437) | picture4u | |
 | CRUMB Circuit Simulator | older | $8.99 | 790 78% | 24k | $213k (exactly $213,063) | Mike Bushell |
 | JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator | $17.99 | 378 76% | 11k | $204k (exactly $204,007) | Prof. Scherer | |
 | Tower Networking Inc. | · EA | $19.99 | 317 95% | 9.5k | $190k (exactly $190,105) | Pocosia Studios |
 | IT Specialist Simulator | · EA | $13.99 | 433 74% | 13k | $182k (exactly $181,730) | Pixel Team RED |
 | I Fetch Rocks | $15.99 | 110 94% | 3.3k | $53k (exactly $52,767) | SarumXR | |
 | Hacker's Journey | $4.99 | 228 76% | 6.8k | $34k (exactly $34,132) | Electric Heart | |
 | Web Host Simulator | · EA | $24.99 | 42 26% | 1.3k | $31k (exactly $31,487) | Chibum |
 | Cyber Warrior | $19.99 | 39 84% | 1.2k | $23k (exactly $23,388) | Dunke Games | |
 | The Legend of Pomodoro | $6.99 | 94 82% | 2.8k | $20k (exactly $19,712) | Tony Wang | |
 | Breadbox | $11.99 | 34 97% | 1.0k | $12k (exactly $12,230) | Bitfall |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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