Do I ship it?

Games › Management › Management + Programming

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Programming Management game?

Management + Programming

Of 33 developers who shipped a Programming Management 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.. 55 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $4.5k, ×7.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $750; 1 in 20 cleared $280k, ×453 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 55 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 7.2 times the market baseline, revenue down 85% on the market, 55 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Management + Programming
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 33
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $36k → $2.1k → $31k → $4.5k (still earning) → $899 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Management + Programming: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 33
Bottom 30% $748 (exactly $748)
Median $4.5k (exactly $4,496)
Top 25% $47k (exactly $46,738)
Top 5% $284k (exactly $284,462)
Developers, 2 yr 33
Released games 74
Announced 55
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $7.99

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 85% on the market, supply 350% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Programming
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Management, Programming; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Automation, Strategy
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 5,305 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $750, median $4.5k, 1 in 4 over $46k, 1 in 20 over $280k.

3 in 10 developers made under $750. 7 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 55 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Management with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + RomeFair21 devs · median $64k · 23 announced
  2. + Job SimulatorFair195 devs · median $17k · 225 announced
  3. + WesternFair18 devs · median $13k · 22 announced
  4. + Artificial IntelligenceFair114 devs · median $12k · 154 announced
  5. + JRPGFair37 devs · median $9.4k · 35 announced
  6. + MinigamesFair22 devs · median $7.4k · 15 announced
  7. + RhythmFair19 devs · median $5.9k · 24 announced
  8. + UnderwaterFair37 devs · median $5.0k · 54 announced
  9. + CollectathonFair182 devs · median $3.5k · 230 announced
  10. + DwarvesFair13 devs · median $3.2k · 18 announced
  11. + 3D FighterFair11 devs · median $3.1k · 15 announced
  12. + IncrementalFair611 devs · median $1.9k · 893 announced

All 214 pairs on the Management page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Mad Games Tycoon 2 2023 · $5.5M Software Inc. 2015 · EA · $5.2M Autonauts 2019 · $2.2M Desynced 2026 · $1.7M Mad Games Tycoon 2016 · $1.7M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Mad Games Tycoon 2 older $24.99 7,355 93% 221k $5.5M (exactly $5,514,044) Eggcode
Software Inc. · EA older $22.99 7,576 94% 227k $5.2M (exactly $5,225,167) Coredumping
Autonauts older $19.99 3,596 90% 108k $2.2M (exactly $2,156,521) Denki
Desynced $29.99 1,879 79% 56k $1.7M (exactly $1,690,536) Stage Games Inc.
Mad Games Tycoon older $14.99 3,700 91% 111k $1.7M (exactly $1,663,890) Eggcode
City Game Studio: Your Game Dev Adventure Begins older $19.99 1,779 91% 53k $1.1M (exactly $1,066,866) Binogure Studio 🐺
Main Assembly older $19.99 1,004 83% 30k $602k (exactly $602,099) Bad Yolk Games
Game Dev Story older $8.99 1,445 89% 43k $390k (exactly $389,716) Kairosoft Co.,Ltd
Rogue Voltage $15.99 593 92% 18k $284k (exactly $284,462) Horizont Computergrafik
ServiceIT: You can do IT $12.99 676 56% 20k $263k (exactly $263,437) picture4u
Data Center $8.99 916 76% 27k $247k (exactly $247,045) Waseku
Tower Networking Inc. · EA $19.99 317 95% 9.5k $190k (exactly $190,105) Pocosia Studios
Xenopurge $12.49 419 84% 13k $157k (exactly $156,999) Traptics
MegaFactory Titan $19.99 150 76% 4.5k $90k (exactly $89,955) Q Switched Productions, LLC
Screeps: Arena $19.99 105 82% 3.2k $63k (exactly $62,968) Screeps, LLC
AI Learns To Drive $7.49 208 95% 6.2k $47k (exactly $46,738) ActivationFunction
Web Host Simulator · EA $24.99 42 26% 1.3k $31k (exactly $31,487) Chibum

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.