Games › Simulation › Simulation + Mining
Should I ship a Mining Simulation game?
Simulation + Mining
Of 241 developers who shipped a Mining Simulation 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.. 368 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.8k, ×7.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $670k, ×1076 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 368 games are announced against 170 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.1k (exactly $1,078) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.8k (exactly $4,816) |
| Top 25% | $46k (exactly $46,262) |
| Top 5% | $676k (exactly $675,704) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 241 |
| Released games | 435 |
| Announced | 368 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 flat on the market, supply 135% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Mining
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Mining; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Resource Management, Crafting
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Relaxing, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 88,789 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 6 in 10 of the 79 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 368 games are announced against 170 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
My Time at Portia 2019 · $31M 
My Time at Sandrock 2023 · $29M 
Coral Island 2023 · $20M 
Sun Haven 2023 · $17M 
Fields of Mistria 2026 · $13M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | My Time at Portia | older | $29.99 | 34,844 91% | 1.0M | $31M (exactly $31,349,147) | Pathea Games |
| | My Time at Sandrock | older | $39.99 | 24,110 88% | 723k | $29M (exactly $28,924,767) | Pathea Games |
| | Coral Island | older | $29.99 | 21,828 89% | 655k | $20M (exactly $19,638,652) | Stairway Games |
| | Sun Haven | older | $24.99 | 22,069 79% | 662k | $17M (exactly $16,545,129) | Pixel Sprout Studios |
| | Fields of Mistria | $13.99 | 31,918 96% | 958k | $13M (exactly $13,395,985) | NPC Studio | |
 | Hydroneer | older | $14.99 | 27,131 85% | 814k | $12M (exactly $12,200,811) | Foulball Hangover |
 | Captain of Industry | · EA older | $34.99 | 11,027 90% | 331k | $12M (exactly $11,575,042) | MaFi Games |
 | Gold Mining Simulator | older | $19.99 | 15,132 72% | 454k | $9.1M (exactly $9,074,660) | Code Horizon |
 | Luma Island | $19.99 | 11,204 84% | 336k | $6.7M (exactly $6,719,039) | Feel Free Games | |
 | Turmoil | older | $12.99 | 13,154 92% | 395k | $5.1M (exactly $5,126,114) | Gamious |
 | Space Engineers 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 5,095 74% | 153k | $4.6M (exactly $4,583,972) | Keen Software House |
 | A Game About Digging A Hole™ | $4.99 | 18,785 89% | 564k | $2.8M (exactly $2,812,114) | DoubleBee | |
 | Occupy Mars: The Game | $29.99 | 2,714 68% | 81k | $2.4M (exactly $2,441,786) | ▲ Pyramid Games | |
 | MineMogul | · EA | $14.99 | 4,330 96% | 130k | $1.9M (exactly $1,947,201) | NoodleForge (Gvarados & Diomonder) |
 | The Last Starship | $19.99 | 1,623 75% | 49k | $973k (exactly $973,313) | Introversion Software | |
 | Return from Core | $16.99 | 1,620 75% | 49k | $826k (exactly $825,714) | 顽核社 FuncoreClub | |
 | A Game About Feeding A Black Hole | $6.99 | 3,467 88% | 104k | $727k (exactly $727,030) | Aarimous, Thornity | |
 | Digseum | $2.99 | 8,033 97% | 241k | $721k (exactly $720,560) | Rat Monthly |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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