Games › Trading › Trading + Pirates
Should I ship a Pirate Trading game?
Trading + Pirates
Only 12 developers shipped a Pirate Trading 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, Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 32 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $15k, ×24 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $380k, ×609 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 32 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $629 (exactly $629) |
|---|---|
| Median | $15k (exactly $15,350) |
| Top 25% | $74k (exactly $74,200) |
| Top 5% | $383k (exactly $382,609) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 12 |
| Released games | 46 |
| Announced | 32 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $14.99 |
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 95% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Trading
- Price point
- $14.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 75% positive over 1,545 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 4 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 32 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Trading with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + MiningFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + Character CustomizationPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + FlightPoor odds
- + SportsPoor odds
- + CollectathonPoor odds
- + PhysicsPoor odds
- + DrivingPoor odds
- + LootPoor odds
Comparable games
Sailing Era 2023 · $3.4M 
Sid Meier's Pirates! 2005 · $1.9M 
Port Royale 4 2020 · $1.7M 
Windward 2015 · $800k 
Horizon's Gate 2020 · $727k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sailing Era | older | $24.99 | 4,565 78% | 137k | $3.4M (exactly $3,422,380) | GY Games |
| | Sid Meier's Pirates! | older | $9.99 | 6,198 94% | 186k | $1.9M (exactly $1,857,541) | Firaxis Games |
| | Port Royale 4 | older | $39.99 | 1,405 56% | 42k | $1.7M (exactly $1,685,578) | Gaming Minds |
| | Windward | older | $9.99 | 2,668 79% | 80k | $800k (exactly $799,600) | Tasharen Entertainment Inc. |
| | Horizon's Gate | older | $19.99 | 1,213 94% | 36k | $727k (exactly $727,436) | Rad Codex |
 | Port Royale 3 | older | $14.99 | 1,204 72% | 36k | $541k (exactly $541,439) | Gaming Minds Studios |
 | Hero of the Kingdom II | older | $8.99 | 1,900 95% | 57k | $512k (exactly $512,430) | Lonely Troops |
 | Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates | $19.99 | 638 70% | 19k | $383k (exactly $382,609) | ReCon Team | |
 | Windward Horizon | $19.99 | 401 79% | 12k | $240k (exactly $240,480) | Tasharen Entertainment Inc. | |
 | Void Destroyer 2 | older | $9.99 | 652 80% | 20k | $195k (exactly $195,404) | Iteration 11 |
 | 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 |
 | Terror of the Seven Seas | $14.99 | 108 78% | 3.2k | $49k (exactly $48,568) | Cutthroat Games | |
 | Deep Space Outpost | $15.99 | 32 71% | 960 | $15k (exactly $15,350) | Niris Games | |
 | Pirate Cove Simulator | $9.99 | 34 61% | 1.0k | $10k (exactly $10,190) | Kool2Play | |
 | Clicker Clicker Treasure Picker | · EA | $2.99 | 10 70% | 300 | $897 (exactly $897) | EYVALON ENTERTAINMENT |
 | Exploration | $6.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $629 (exactly $629) | Software 2000 | |
 | Star Corsairs: Fractured Frontier | · EA | $9.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | Tagir Nabiullin |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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