Games › Real-Time with Pause › Real-Time with Pause + Procedural Generation
Should I ship a Procedural Generation Real-Time with Pause game?
Real-Time with Pause + Procedural Generation
Only 13 developers shipped a Procedural Generation Real-Time with Pause 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, Flotsam, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 29 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $15k, ×9.9 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $11k; 1 in 20 cleared $3.2M, ×2156 the market median. Revenue is up 85% on the market; 29 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $11k (exactly $10,793) |
|---|---|
| Median | $15k (exactly $14,809) |
| Top 25% | $36k (exactly $35,600) |
| Top 5% | $3.2M (exactly $3,229,708) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 39 |
| Announced | 29 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 up 85% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Real-Time with Pause
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Procedural Generation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Real-Time with Pause, Procedural Generation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Resource Management, Strategy, Building
- Price point
- $14.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Difficult
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 8,400 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $11k. 6 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Real-Time with Pause with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + CombatStrong odds
- + ActionFair
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + AdventurePoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + ExplorationPoor odds
- + Choices MatterPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + MedievalPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + SurvivalPoor odds
Comparable games
Stellaris 2016 · $210M 
FTL: Faster Than Light 2012 · $19M 
The Universim 2024 · $7.6M 
Distant Worlds 2 2022 · $4.0M 
Flotsam 2025 · $3.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Stellaris | older | $49.99 | 139,718 85% | 4.2M | $210M (exactly $209,535,085) | Paradox Development Studio |
| | FTL: Faster Than Light | older | $9.99 | 62,763 94% | 1.9M | $19M (exactly $18,810,071) | Subset Games |
| | The Universim | older | $29.99 | 8,465 79% | 254k | $7.6M (exactly $7,615,960) | Crytivo |
| | Distant Worlds 2 | older | $49.99 | 2,653 72% | 80k | $4.0M (exactly $3,978,704) | CodeForce |
| | Flotsam | $24.99 | 4,308 80% | 129k | $3.2M (exactly $3,229,708) | Pajama Llama Games | |
 | Heat Signature | older | $14.99 | 6,849 94% | 205k | $3.1M (exactly $3,079,995) | Suspicious Developments |
 | Crying Suns | older | $24.99 | 3,149 85% | 94k | $2.4M (exactly $2,360,805) | Alt Shift |
 | Void War | $19.99 | 3,653 94% | 110k | $2.2M (exactly $2,190,704) | Tundra | |
 | Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation | older | $19.99 | 2,106 80% | 63k | $1.3M (exactly $1,262,968) | Suncrash |
 | Trigon: Space Story | older | $19.99 | 1,247 67% | 37k | $748k (exactly $747,826) | Sernur.tech |
 | Solar Wave | · EA | $17.99 | 80 75% | 2.4k | $43k (exactly $43,176) | SavGus Studio |
 | Deep Among the Swarm | $8.99 | 132 85% | 4.0k | $36k (exactly $35,600) | Pebble Mountain Games | |
 | A Little Age | $14.99 | 61 62% | 1.8k | $27k (exactly $27,432) | Benerot | |
 | Deep Space Outpost | $15.99 | 32 71% | 960 | $15k (exactly $15,350) | Niris Games | |
 | NovaMundi | $12.99 | 38 81% | 1.1k | $15k (exactly $14,809) | Slashware Interactive | |
 | Reclaim The Sea | $11.99 | 41 75% | 1.2k | $15k (exactly $14,748) | 1LastGame | |
 | Earth of Oryn | · EA | $14.99 | 31 64% | 930 | $14k (exactly $13,941) | Earth of Oryn |
 | Infest | $14.99 | 24 75% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | Chute Apps |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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