Games › Sandbox › Sandbox + Mars
Should I ship a Mars Sandbox?
Sandbox + Mars
Only 13 developers shipped a Mars Sandbox 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, Occupy Mars: The Game, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 18 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $17k, ×27 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.4M, ×3888 the market median. Revenue is up 38685% on the market; 18 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) |
|---|---|
| Median | $17k (exactly $17,094) |
| Top 25% | $816k (exactly $815,617) |
| Top 5% | $2.4M (exactly $2,441,786) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 42 |
| Announced | 18 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 38685% on the market, supply 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Sandbox
- Price point
- $11.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 12,330 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.1k. 7 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 18 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Sandbox with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FightingStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + CatsFair
- + SportsFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Trading Card GameFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
Per Aspera 2020 · $3.7M 
Occupy Mars: The Game 2026 · $2.4M 
Mars First Logistics 2025 · $2.1M 
Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered 2018 · $2.0M 
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 |
| | Occupy Mars: The Game | $29.99 | 2,714 68% | 81k | $2.4M (exactly $2,441,786) | ▲ Pyramid Games | |
| | Mars First Logistics | $19.99 | 3,497 94% | 105k | $2.1M (exactly $2,097,151) | Shape Shop | |
| | Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered | older | $19.99 | 3,385 79% | 102k | $2.0M (exactly $2,029,984) | Volition, KAIKO |
| | Plan B: Terraform | $15.99 | 3,526 91% | 106k | $1.7M (exactly $1,691,422) | Gaddy Games | |
 | Solargene | $34.99 | 777 77% | 23k | $816k (exactly $815,617) | Alexander Semenov | |
 | Take On Mars | older | $9.99 | 1,751 55% | 53k | $525k (exactly $524,775) | Bohemia Interactive |
 | Blossom: The Seed of Life | $16.99 | 1,011 88% | 30k | $515k (exactly $515,307) | Pebbledust Games | |
 | Stellar Settlers: Space Base Builder | $11.99 | 744 69% | 22k | $268k (exactly $267,617) | Tinymice Entertainment | |
 | Farlanders | older | $14.99 | 510 89% | 15k | $229k (exactly $229,347) | Andrii Bychkovskyi |
 | 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 | |
 | Exo Digger | $4.99 | 14 14% | 420 | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) | TornaGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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