Do I ship it?

GamesReal-TimeReal-Time + Physics

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Physics Real-Time game?

Real-Time + Physics

Only 7 developers shipped a Physics Real-Time 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, Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 13 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $33k, ×52 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $19k; 1 in 20 cleared $120M, ×200813 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 13 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 52.4 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 13 announced, ×2.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Real-Time + Physics
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 7

not enough cohorts to draw

Outcomes for Real-Time + Physics: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 7
Bottom 30% $19k (exactly $18,936)
Median $33k (exactly $32,922)
Top 25% $685k (exactly $684,893)
Top 5% $126M (exactly $126,110,378)
Developers, 2 yr 7
Released games 36
Announced 13
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $17.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 150% more developers than the period before.

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.

Real-Time
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Physics
effort 5 / 10 · low · emergent simulation bugs need hands-on tuning

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Real-Time, Physics
Price point
$17.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 74,736 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $19k, median $33k, 1 in 4 over $680k, 1 in 20 over $120M.

3 in 10 developers made under $19k. 13 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Real-Time with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Character CustomizationStrong odds7 devs · median $2.0k · 6 announced
  2. + RogueliteFair11 devs · median $11k · 14 announced
  3. + BuildingPoor odds14 devs · median $62k · 20 announced
  4. + HistoricalPoor odds10 devs · median $52k · 15 announced
  5. + WarPoor odds14 devs · median $37k · 20 announced
  6. + Base BuildingPoor odds21 devs · median $37k · 33 announced
  7. + WargamePoor odds13 devs · median $37k · 17 announced
  8. + Tower DefensePoor odds9 devs · median $32k · 17 announced
  9. + Action RTSPoor odds12 devs · median $31k · 18 announced
  10. + StrategyPoor odds39 devs · median $28k · 75 announced
  11. + RTSPoor odds21 devs · median $22k · 40 announced
  12. + SimulationPoor odds25 devs · median $22k · 43 announced

All 40 pairs on the Real-Time page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition $59.99 70,073 78% 2.1M $126M (exactly $126,110,378) Asobo Studio
Omelet You Cook $14.99 1,523 97% 46k $685k (exactly $684,893) Dan Schumacher, Hjalte Tagmose
Castle Flipper older $18.99 1,027 64% 31k $585k (exactly $585,082) ▲ Pyramid Games
Castle Craft $19.99 480 82% 14k $288k (exactly $287,856) Twin Earth
Dark Future: Blood Red States (Classic) older $24.99 250 70% 7.5k $187k (exactly $187,425) Auroch Digital
Fire Commander older $14.99 325 66% 9.8k $146k (exactly $146,152) Atomic Wolf, Pixel Crow Games
Drone Swarm older $16.99 279 62% 8.4k $142k (exactly $142,206) stillalive studios
Mini Golf Arena · EA older $8.99 385 51% 12k $104k (exactly $103,834) Evoluta Studio
Sub Command older $18.99 136 74% 4.1k $77k (exactly $77,479) Sonalysts
Radical Relocation older $9.99 258 74% 7.7k $77k (exactly $77,323) Winglett Entertainment
Genesis of a Small God $17.99 61 80% 1.8k $33k (exactly $32,922) Pierre Nury
Boxing Simulator $7.99 79 79% 2.4k $19k (exactly $18,936) Inogames
Infest $14.99 24 75% 720 $11k (exactly $10,793) Chute Apps
Skyos · EA $19.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) SkyOS Labs

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