Games › Incremental › Incremental + Post-apocalyptic
Should I ship a Post-apocalyptic Incremental game?
Incremental + Post-apocalyptic
Of 43 developers who shipped a Post-apocalyptic Incremental 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.. 68 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $840, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $24k, ×40 the market median. Revenue is up 110% on the market; 68 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $839 (exactly $839) |
| Top 25% | $6.3k (exactly $6,270) |
| Top 5% | $25k (exactly $24,975) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 43 |
| Released games | 79 |
| Announced | 68 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 110% on the market, supply 105% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
- Post-apocalyptic
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Incremental; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, Automation, Simulation
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 1,768 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 68 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Incremental with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + OtomeStrong odds
- + Martial ArtsFair
- + FarmingFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + MiningFair
- + Souls-likeFair
- + Arena ShooterFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + LootFair
- + SupernaturalFair
Comparable games
Widget Inc. 2024 · $114k 
MoonFall / Butterfly Lovers 2021 · $94k 
IDLE_DIRECTIVE 2026 · $76k 
Fatal Countdown - immoral List of Desires 2024 · $65k 
Cart Racer 2017 · $54k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Widget Inc. | $4.99 | 761 84% | 23k | $114k (exactly $113,922) | Leaping Turtle | |
| | MoonFall / Butterfly Lovers | older | $19.99 | 156 88% | 4.7k | $94k (exactly $93,553) | XIHE Animation |
| | IDLE_DIRECTIVE | $4.99 | 505 86% | 15k | $76k (exactly $75,598) | Kevinfu510 | |
| | Fatal Countdown - immoral List of Desires | older | $10.99 | 197 76% | 5.9k | $65k (exactly $64,951) | Secret Garden |
| | Cart Racer | older | $1.99 | 900 77% | 27k | $54k (exactly $53,730) | HFM Games |
 | Chair F*cking Simulator | older | $1.99 | 774 95% | 23k | $46k (exactly $46,208) | SoSorrySoft |
 | LAST HAREM | $16.99 | 49 57% | 1.5k | $25k (exactly $24,975) | Kokudo Studio | |
 | Ash Warden | $6.99 | 117 70% | 3.5k | $25k (exactly $24,535) | Mgfa Studio | |
 | 翎之歌 | $6.99 | 83 89% | 2.5k | $17k (exactly $17,405) | YuKi制作组, 崩溃猛犸 | |
 | Post Apocalypse Microbe Lab | $7.99 | 59 94% | 1.8k | $14k (exactly $14,142) | SKIPMORE, URARA-WORKS | |
 | Idle Regenerator | $9.99 | 46 58% | 1.4k | $14k (exactly $13,786) | Gestalt Gaming LLC | |
 | Mad Merchant | $5.99 | 72 79% | 2.2k | $13k (exactly $12,938) | Ravenholm Interactive | |
 | Terraforming Titans | $5.00 | 58 94% | 1.7k | $8.7k (exactly $8,700) | terraforming.titans | |
 | The Ash Remembers | $11.99 | 18 88% | 540 | $6.5k (exactly $6,475) | Veyr Works |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.