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Should I ship a Mars Management game?
Management + Mars
Only 12 developers shipped a Mars Management game 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, Surviving Mars: Relaunched, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced, ×6.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
Only 4 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $22k against a market of $630. 24 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $2.5k (exactly $2,518) |
|---|---|
| Median | $22k (exactly $21,878) |
| Top 25% | $816k (exactly $815,617) |
| Top 5% | $2.6M (exactly $2,641,739) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 12 |
| Released games | 36 |
| Announced | 24 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 8465% on the market, supply 50% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Management
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Mars
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Management
- Price point
- $11.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 7,852 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.6k. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 4 developers who shipped in the last year, ×6.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Management with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RomeFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + WesternFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + RhythmFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + 3D FighterFair
- + IncrementalFair
Comparable games
Per Aspera 2020 · $3.7M 
Terraforming Mars 2018 · $3.1M 
Surviving Mars: Relaunched 2025 · $2.6M 
Terraformers 2023 · $1.8M 
Plan B: Terraform 2025 · $1.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Per Aspera | older | $29.99 | 4,105 76% | 123k | $3.7M (exactly $3,693,268) | Tlön Industries |
| | Terraforming Mars | older | $19.99 | 5,194 71% | 156k | $3.1M (exactly $3,114,842) | Artefacts Studio |
| | Surviving Mars: Relaunched | $39.99 | 2,202 55% | 66k | $2.6M (exactly $2,641,739) | Haemimont Games | |
| | Terraformers | older | $19.99 | 3,031 88% | 91k | $1.8M (exactly $1,817,691) | Asteroid Lab |
| | Plan B: Terraform | $15.99 | 3,526 91% | 106k | $1.7M (exactly $1,691,422) | Gaddy Games | |
 | Mars Horizon | older | $19.99 | 2,757 84% | 83k | $1.7M (exactly $1,653,373) | Auroch Digital |
 | Solargene | $34.99 | 777 77% | 23k | $816k (exactly $815,617) | Alexander Semenov | |
 | Tharsis | older | $14.99 | 1,438 71% | 43k | $647k (exactly $646,669) | Choice Provisions |
 | MarZ: Tactical Base Defense | older | $21.99 | 808 77% | 24k | $533k (exactly $533,038) | Giant Grey |
 | Calyx | · EA | $24.99 | 471 88% | 14k | $353k (exactly $353,109) | Studio 568 |
 | Stellar Settlers: Space Base Builder | $11.99 | 744 69% | 22k | $268k (exactly $267,617) | Tinymice Entertainment | |
 | SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD | $9.99 | 73 83% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,878) | Logix Interactive | |
 | Dissent on Mars | $29.99 | 19 47% | 570 | $17k (exactly $17,094) | Michael Hicks, Gonçalo Antunes | |
 | Deep Space Tavern | $5.99 | 21 90% | 630 | $3.8k (exactly $3,774) | World Away Games | |
 | HAS Galactics | $11.99 | 7 28% | 210 | $2.5k (exactly $2,518) | HAS Games | |
 | Asymptote | $4.99 | 12 100% | 360 | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) | Crazish Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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