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Should I ship a Pirate Simulation game?
Simulation + Pirates
Of 43 developers who shipped a Pirate 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.. 96 more are announced, ×3.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.8k, ×4.5 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $240k, ×397 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 96 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $629 (exactly $629) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.8k (exactly $2,844) |
| Top 25% | $46k (exactly $45,854) |
| Top 5% | $249k (exactly $249,444) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 43 |
| Released games | 146 |
| Announced | 96 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 down 80% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, 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
- Pirates
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Adventure, Sailing
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 5,127 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 7 in 10 of the 19 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 96 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different setting or mood, 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
Assassin’s Creed® Rogue 2015 · $13M 
Naval Action 2019 · $6.1M 
Corsair Cove 2026 · $3.6M 
Sailing Era 2023 · $3.4M 
Pixel Piracy 2014 · $2.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Assassin’s Creed® Rogue | older | $19.99 | 21,310 86% | 639k | $13M (exactly $12,779,607) | Ubisoft Sofia, Ubisoft Kiev |
| | Naval Action | older | $19.99 | 10,187 52% | 306k | $6.1M (exactly $6,109,144) | Bermuda Computer Club |
| | Corsair Cove | $39.99 | 3,026 85% | 91k | $3.6M (exactly $3,630,292) | Limbic Entertainment | |
| | Sailing Era | older | $24.99 | 4,565 78% | 137k | $3.4M (exactly $3,422,380) | GY Games |
| | Pixel Piracy | older | $14.99 | 5,713 65% | 171k | $2.6M (exactly $2,569,136) | Vitali Kirpu |
 | Port Royale 4 | older | $39.99 | 1,405 56% | 42k | $1.7M (exactly $1,685,578) | Gaming Minds |
 | Space Pirates And Zombies 2 | older | $19.99 | 2,734 78% | 82k | $1.6M (exactly $1,639,580) | MinMax Games Ltd. |
 | Out of Reach | older | $14.99 | 2,390 54% | 72k | $1.1M (exactly $1,074,783) | Space Boat Studios |
 | Airship: Kingdoms Adrift | older | $29.99 | 902 75% | 27k | $812k (exactly $811,529) | Revolution Industry |
 | Corsairs Legacy - Pirate Action RPG & Sea Battles | · EA older | $19.99 | 1,094 74% | 33k | $656k (exactly $656,072) | Mauris, Tech-5 UG |
 | Forgotten Seas | $24.99 | 475 75% | 14k | $356k (exactly $356,108) | Pangea Game Studios | |
 | Rise of Piracy | · EA | $15.99 | 520 77% | 16k | $249k (exactly $249,444) | IrishJohnGames |
 | SeaCret 1 | · EA | $39.99 | 99 61% | 3.0k | $119k (exactly $118,770) | Dalas |
 | High Seas, High Profits! | $14.99 | 165 86% | 5.0k | $74k (exactly $74,200) | lexy.zip | |
 | Following Seas | · EA | $14.99 | 153 76% | 4.6k | $69k (exactly $68,804) | Whipstaff Games |
 | Pinball Wicked | $7.99 | 235 87% | 7.1k | $56k (exactly $56,330) | Formslingers | |
 | ShipShaper: Falconeer Chronicles | · EA | $8.99 | 192 96% | 5.8k | $52k (exactly $51,782) | Tomas Sala |
 | Terror of the Seven Seas | $14.99 | 108 78% | 3.2k | $49k (exactly $48,568) | Cutthroat Games | |
 | Sea Chronicles | $9.99 | 154 90% | 4.6k | $46k (exactly $46,154) | Madi Abdykarimov |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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