Games › Simulation › Simulation + Inventory Management
Should I ship an Inventory Management Simulation game?
Simulation + Inventory Management
Of 525 developers who shipped an Inventory Management Simulation 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.. 961 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.6k, ×5.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $960; 1 in 20 cleared $610k, ×977 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 961 games are announced against 353 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $958 (exactly $958) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.6k (exactly $3,591) |
| Top 25% | $37k (exactly $36,863) |
| Top 5% | $614k (exactly $613,792) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 525 |
| Released games | 1,015 |
| Announced | 961 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 down 50% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Inventory Management
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Inventory Management; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Economy, Resource Management
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 168,354 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $960. 6 in 10 of the 228 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 961 games are announced against 353 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Supermarket Simulator 2025 · $48M 
DREDGE 2023 · $36M 
PC Building Simulator 2019 · $25M 
Unpacking 2021 · $21M 
Drug Dealer Simulator 2020 · $11M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Supermarket Simulator | $19.99 | 79,236 92% | 2.4M | $48M (exactly $47,517,829) | Nokta Games | |
| | DREDGE | older | $24.99 | 47,624 95% | 1.4M | $36M (exactly $35,703,713) | Black Salt Games |
| | PC Building Simulator | older | $19.99 | 42,153 93% | 1.3M | $25M (exactly $25,279,154) | Claudiu Kiss, The Irregular Corporation |
| | Unpacking | older | $19.99 | 35,072 93% | 1.1M | $21M (exactly $21,032,678) | Witch Beam |
| | Drug Dealer Simulator | older | $19.99 | 18,297 85% | 549k | $11M (exactly $10,972,711) | Byterunners |
 | Big Ambitions | $25.99 | 14,003 92% | 420k | $11M (exactly $10,918,139) | Hovgaard Games | |
 | Car For Sale Simulator | $16.99 | 20,229 78% | 607k | $10M (exactly $10,310,721) | Red Axe Games | |
 | Stranded: Alien Dawn | older | $34.99 | 9,715 84% | 291k | $10M (exactly $10,197,836) | Haemimont Games |
 | Travellers Rest | · EA older | $17.99 | 16,538 87% | 496k | $8.9M (exactly $8,925,559) | Isolated Games |
 | HighFleet | older | $29.99 | 7,024 88% | 211k | $6.3M (exactly $6,319,493) | Konstantin Koshutin |
 | Retro Rewind - Video Store Simulator | $19.90 | 10,118 95% | 304k | $6.0M (exactly $6,040,446) | Blood Pact Studios | |
 | Car Dealer Simulator | $19.99 | 9,831 88% | 295k | $5.9M (exactly $5,895,651) | Garage Monkeys | |
 | Waterpark Simulator | $12.99 | 13,280 96% | 398k | $5.2M (exactly $5,175,216) | CayPlay | |
 | Tiny Bookshop | $19.99 | 6,967 96% | 209k | $4.2M (exactly $4,178,110) | neoludic games | |
 | Keep Driving | $17.99 | 6,188 93% | 186k | $3.3M (exactly $3,339,664) | YCJY Games | |
 | Grocery Store Simulator | $14.99 | 5,337 90% | 160k | $2.4M (exactly $2,400,049) | EXPERIMENT ONE | |
 | Gunsmith Simulator | $24.99 | 3,165 84% | 95k | $2.4M (exactly $2,372,800) | GameHunters |
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.