Games › Life Sim › Life Sim + Programming
Should I ship a Programming Life Sim?
Life Sim + Programming
Only 9 developers shipped a Programming Life Sim in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, ServiceIT: You can do IT, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 21 more are announced, ×4.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.8k, ×12 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $500; 1 in 20 cleared $260k, ×555 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 21 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $494 (exactly $494) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.8k (exactly $5,753) |
| Top 25% | $65k (exactly $65,335) |
| Top 5% | $263k (exactly $263,437) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 27 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 down 100% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Life Sim
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Programming
- 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
- Life Sim, Programming
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 7,146 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $500. 21 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Life Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + MinigamesStrong odds
- + MusicStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Football (Soccer)Fair
- + FaithFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + GamblingFair
- + DemonsFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LogicFair
- + ZombiesFair
Comparable games
City Game Studio: Your Game Dev Adventure Begins 2021 · $1.1M 
Anonymous Hacker Simulator 2024 · $444k 
Game Dev Story 2022 · $390k 
ServiceIT: You can do IT 2025 · $263k 
Crypto Mining Simulator 2021 · $212k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | City Game Studio: Your Game Dev Adventure Begins | older | $19.99 | 1,779 91% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,066,866) | Binogure Studio 🐺 |
| | Anonymous Hacker Simulator | older | $19.99 | 741 85% | 22k | $444k (exactly $444,378) | Sicarius |
| | Game Dev Story | older | $8.99 | 1,445 89% | 43k | $390k (exactly $389,716) | Kairosoft Co.,Ltd |
| | ServiceIT: You can do IT | $12.99 | 676 56% | 20k | $263k (exactly $263,437) | picture4u | |
| | Crypto Mining Simulator | older | $4.99 | 1,419 65% | 43k | $212k (exactly $212,424) | Satosha Nakamoti |
 | IT Specialist Simulator | · EA | $13.99 | 433 74% | 13k | $182k (exactly $181,730) | Pixel Team RED |
 | Milling machine simulator | older | $19.99 | 180 90% | 5.4k | $108k (exactly $107,946) | Igor Frank, Ursa Masnec |
 | The Bibites: Digital Life | · EA | $9.99 | 218 96% | 6.5k | $65k (exactly $65,335) | Omnia Studios |
 | Virt-U-Mate | older | $24.99 | 59 52% | 1.8k | $44k (exactly $44,232) | Entropy Digital Entertainment |
 | PC Creator - PC Building Simulator | older | $5.99 | 196 65% | 5.9k | $35k (exactly $35,221) | CREATY |
 | Web Host Simulator | · EA | $24.99 | 42 26% | 1.3k | $31k (exactly $31,487) | Chibum |
 | Torrent Empire | $7.99 | 24 62% | 720 | $5.8k (exactly $5,753) | Steel Games | |
 | Commit!!! | $9.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $599 (exactly $599) | gand-tr | |
 | wageslave | $5.49 | 3 100% | 90 | $494 (exactly $494) | Cauldron Games | |
 | FYGameCompany | $7.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $240 (exactly $240) | Foryun | |
 | Hacker vs IT | $3.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $120 (exactly $120) | Sapphirus Production |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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