Do I ship it?

Games › Open World Survival Craft › Open World Survival Craft + Mining

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Mining Open World Survival Craft?

Open World Survival Craft + Mining

Only 18 developers shipped a Mining Open World Survival Craft 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.. 34 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 9 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $14k, ×11 the market's $1.3k for a 9 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.9k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.4M, ×1813 the market median. Revenue is up 720% on the market; 34 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 10.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 720% on the market, 34 announced, ×3.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Open World Survival Craft + Mining
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 18
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.8k → $1.8M → $2.2k → $4.8k → $40k → $50k (still earning) → $22k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Open World Survival Craft + Mining: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 18
Bottom 30% $2.8k (exactly $2,844)
Median $14k (exactly $14,382)
Top 25% $59k (exactly $58,771)
Top 5% $2.4M (exactly $2,441,786)
Developers, 2 yr 18
Released games 62
Announced 34
Effort 9 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $13.99

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 720% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 6%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Open World Survival Craft
effort 9 / 10 · low · dedicated multiplayer servers over a huge content build
Mining
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
9 / 10 · studio only
Systems
Open World Survival Craft, Mining; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Survival, Adventure
Price point
$13.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $13.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 5,584 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $2.9k, median $14k, 1 in 4 over $58k, 1 in 20 over $2.4M.

3 in 10 developers made under $2.9k. 9 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Open World Survival Craft with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + AutomationFair28 devs · median $307k · 37 announced
  2. + Co-opPoor odds58 devs · median $515k · 127 announced
  3. + Online Co-OpPoor odds72 devs · median $217k · 139 announced
  4. + Immersive SimPoor odds14 devs · median $183k · 37 announced
  5. + PhysicsPoor odds8 devs · median $183k · 27 announced
  6. + Colony SimPoor odds11 devs · median $170k · 25 announced
  7. + MedievalPoor odds13 devs · median $154k · 37 announced
  8. + ShooterPoor odds25 devs · median $139k · 45 announced
  9. + PvPPoor odds22 devs · median $125k · 56 announced
  10. + Sci-fiPoor odds32 devs · median $124k · 76 announced
  11. + Character CustomizationPoor odds34 devs · median $116k · 60 announced
  12. + RPGPoor odds76 devs · median $96k · 165 announced

All 54 pairs on the Open World Survival Craft page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

ICARUS 2021 · $59M Lightyear Frontier 2024 · EA · $3.2M CryoFall 2021 · $2.9M Occupy Mars: The Game 2026 · $2.4M Rising World 2014 · EA · $2.4M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
ICARUS older $34.99 55,849 75% 1.7M $59M (exactly $58,624,695) RocketWerkz
Lightyear Frontier · EA older $24.99 4,257 83% 128k $3.2M (exactly $3,191,473) FRAME BREAK
CryoFall older $19.99 4,905 78% 147k $2.9M (exactly $2,941,528) AtomicTorch Studio
Occupy Mars: The Game $29.99 2,714 68% 81k $2.4M (exactly $2,441,786) ▲ Pyramid Games
Rising World · EA older $14.99 5,310 85% 159k $2.4M (exactly $2,387,907) JIW-Games
TerraTech Worlds · EA older $29.99 2,027 62% 61k $1.8M (exactly $1,823,692) Payload Studios
AETHUS $19.99 2,030 94% 61k $1.2M (exactly $1,217,391) Pawsmonaut Games
FortressCraft Evolved! older $12.99 2,653 72% 80k $1.0M (exactly $1,033,874) ProjectorGames
cyubeVR · EA older $29.99 1,066 90% 32k $959k (exactly $959,080) Stonebrick Studios
Aground older $14.99 1,823 94% 55k $820k (exactly $819,803) Fancy Fish Games, SnöBox Studio
Wonderia · EA $13.99 276 80% 8.3k $116k (exactly $115,837) Rock&Dash
Dinosaur World · EA $14.99 157 61% 4.7k $71k (exactly $70,603) Dinosaur Studio
Star Crafter $19.99 98 70% 2.9k $59k (exactly $58,771) Tbjbu2
Utopia Colony $16.99 99 63% 3.0k $50k (exactly $50,460) GridSky Studios
BIG LOOT · EA $15.99 83 68% 2.5k $40k (exactly $39,815) Reverie Clouds
Gathera · EA $13.99 52 82% 1.6k $22k (exactly $21,824) Catris Games
Last Breath · EA $7.99 60 81% 1.8k $14k (exactly $14,382) Mx
Fallen Angel: Hell Survival $19.99 15 86% 450 $9.0k (exactly $8,996) Strongfinger

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