Games › Incremental › Incremental + Underground
Should I ship an Underground Incremental game?
Incremental + Underground
Of 27 developers who shipped an Underground 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.. 35 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.0k, ×6.3 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 35 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $358 (exactly $358) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.0k (exactly $2,994) |
| Top 25% | $8.8k (exactly $8,807) |
| Top 5% | $153k (exactly $152,993) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 27 |
| Released games | 50 |
| Announced | 35 |
| 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 1150% 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
- Underground
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Incremental; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, Mining, Automation
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 2D, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 3,581 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 35 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year.
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
- + LootFair
- + SupernaturalFair
- + EconomyFair
Comparable games
Project P.I.T.T. 2026 · $288k 
You Know The Drill 2026 · $153k 
Diggin 2026 · $133k 
Kin and Quarry 2026 · $120k 
Idle Deepcore 2026 · $77k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Project P.I.T.T. | $9.99 | 961 78% | 29k | $288k (exactly $288,012) | Froke | |
| | You Know The Drill | $4.99 | 1,022 92% | 31k | $153k (exactly $152,993) | ludokai | |
| | Diggin | $6.99 | 635 80% | 19k | $133k (exactly $133,160) | Longshot Studio | |
| | Kin and Quarry | $9.99 | 400 75% | 12k | $120k (exactly $119,880) | The Fox Knocks | |
| | Idle Deepcore | $6.99 | 365 85% | 11k | $77k (exactly $76,540) | Bluehood Games | |
 | Egyptian Senet | older | $9.99 | 200 81% | 6.0k | $60k (exactly $59,940) | Ezzat Studios |
 | 100 hidden frogs 2 | older | $0.99 | 327 77% | 9.8k | $9.7k (exactly $9,712) | Anatoliy Loginovskikh |
 | Loot Dungeon | $6.99 | 44 54% | 1.3k | $9.2k (exactly $9,227) | Electric Kite | |
 | Orebits | $6.99 | 42 66% | 1.3k | $8.8k (exactly $8,807) | Upgraded Studio | |
 | Neko Dungeon | 喵酱迷城 | 喵醬迷城 | ねこダンジョン | older | $7.99 | 35 48% | 1.1k | $8.4k (exactly $8,390) | TK Studio |
 | Cozy Mining | $6.99 | 38 76% | 1.1k | $8.0k (exactly $7,969) | tatsumaki games | |
 | Peckers | $4.99 | 37 97% | 1.1k | $5.5k (exactly $5,539) | Humblebright Studio | |
 | Spell Alchemist | $4.99 | 37 72% | 1.1k | $5.5k (exactly $5,539) | hermurx |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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