Games › Physics › Physics + Transportation
Should I ship a Physics Transportation game?
Physics + Transportation
Of 64 developers who shipped a Physics Transportation 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.. 92 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.0k, ×8.0 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $2.7M, ×4449 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 92 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $839 (exactly $839) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.0k (exactly $5,034) |
| Top 25% | $135k (exactly $134,910) |
| Top 5% | $2.8M (exactly $2,794,103) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 64 |
| Released games | 161 |
| Announced | 92 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 55% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Physics
- effort 5 / 10 · low · emergent simulation bugs need hands-on tuning
- Transportation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Physics, Transportation; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Immersive Sim, Automobile Sim
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Realistic, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 44,243 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $840. 7 in 10 of the 28 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 92 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Physics with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + PinballFair
- + World War IIFair
- + Mini GolfFair
- + GolfFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + CatsFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + BilliardsFair
Comparable games
Forza Motorsport 2023 · $26M 
RoadCraft 2025 · $16M 
Derail Valley 2019 · EA · $11M 
Construction Simulator 2022 · $8.0M 
OMSI 2: Steam Edition 2013 · $7.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Forza Motorsport | older | $69.99 | 12,148 51% | 364k | $26M (exactly $25,507,156) | Turn 10 |
| | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
| | Derail Valley | · EA older | $39.99 | 9,442 96% | 283k | $11M (exactly $11,327,567) | Altfuture |
| | Construction Simulator | older | $24.99 | 10,606 82% | 318k | $8.0M (exactly $7,951,318) | weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH |
| | OMSI 2: Steam Edition | older | $29.99 | 8,586 84% | 258k | $7.7M (exactly $7,724,824) | MR-Software GbR |
 | SimRail - The Railway Simulator | $34.99 | 5,307 85% | 159k | $5.6M (exactly $5,570,758) | SimRail S.A. | |
 | Train Sim World® 2 | older | $19.99 | 7,066 82% | 212k | $4.2M (exactly $4,237,480) | Dovetail Games |
 | Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator | older | $29.99 | 4,414 62% | 132k | $4.0M (exactly $3,971,276) | Simteract |
 | Train Sim World® 6 | $49.99 | 2,485 78% | 75k | $3.7M (exactly $3,726,754) | Dovetail Games | |
 | Star Trucker | older | $24.99 | 4,928 77% | 148k | $3.7M (exactly $3,694,522) | Monster and Monster |
 | Train Sim World® 5 | $39.99 | 3,028 80% | 91k | $3.6M (exactly $3,632,692) | Dovetail Games | |
 | Aviassembly | · EA | $9.99 | 9,323 96% | 280k | $2.8M (exactly $2,794,103) | Jelle Booij |
 | Cheap Car Repair | $19.69 | 3,603 91% | 108k | $2.1M (exactly $2,128,292) | Little Dog Games | |
 | Mars First Logistics | $19.99 | 3,497 94% | 105k | $2.1M (exactly $2,097,151) | Shape Shop | |
 | RUNNING TRAIN | 走ル列車！ | · EA | $19.99 | 1,594 97% | 48k | $956k (exactly $955,922) | Novatetsu Games |
 | Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator | $29.99 | 993 50% | 30k | $893k (exactly $893,402) | Aesir Interactive | |
 | Bus Bound | $29.99 | 886 72% | 27k | $797k (exactly $797,134) | stillalive studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.