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Should I ship a Procedural Generation Trading game?
Procedural Generation + Trading
Of 41 developers who shipped a Procedural Generation Trading 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.. 85 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×5.1 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×321 the market median. Revenue is up 230% on the market; 85 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $20,093) |
| Top 5% | $152k (exactly $152,380) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 41 |
| Released games | 70 |
| Announced | 85 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 up 230% on the market, supply 140% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Procedural Generation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Trading
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Procedural Generation, Trading; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Building, Management
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 5,253 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 85 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Procedural Generation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SnowFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + DetectiveFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + IdlerFair
- + LogicFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 《蜀山:初章》买断版 | older | $24.99 | 5,772 74% | 173k | $4.3M (exactly $4,327,268) | 重楼工作室 |
| | Ostranauts | $19.99 | 3,137 77% | 94k | $1.9M (exactly $1,881,259) | Blue Bottle Games | |
| | Dealer's Life 2 | older | $14.99 | 3,994 85% | 120k | $1.8M (exactly $1,796,102) | Abyte Entertainment |
| | Star Traders: Frontiers | older | $14.99 | 3,672 83% | 110k | $1.7M (exactly $1,651,298) | Trese Brothers |
| | Slipways | older | $16.99 | 2,233 93% | 67k | $1.1M (exactly $1,138,160) | Beetlewing |
| | Windward | older | $9.99 | 2,668 79% | 80k | $800k (exactly $799,600) | Tasharen Entertainment Inc. |
| | Merchant of the Skies | older | $14.99 | 1,437 87% | 43k | $646k (exactly $646,219) | Coldwild Games |
| | Storage Hustle | · EA older | $11.99 | 1,508 70% | 45k | $542k (exactly $542,428) | Broken Clock |
| | Imperiums: Greek Wars | older | $29.99 | 453 83% | 14k | $408k (exactly $407,564) | Kube Games |
| | Dealer's Life | older | $9.99 | 1,257 93% | 38k | $377k (exactly $376,723) | Abyte Entertainment |
| | Stars Reach | · EA | $29.99 | 322 52% | 9.7k | $290k (exactly $289,703) | Playable Worlds, Inc. |
| | Vanguard Galaxy | · EA | $8.99 | 565 90% | 17k | $152k (exactly $152,380) | Bat Roost Games |
| | Project Rebearth | $17.99 | 184 70% | 5.5k | $99k (exactly $99,305) | Program Sam | |
| | MegaFactory Titan | $19.99 | 150 76% | 4.5k | $90k (exactly $89,955) | Q Switched Productions, LLC | |
| | IDLE_DIRECTIVE | $4.99 | 505 86% | 15k | $76k (exactly $75,598) | Kevinfu510 | |
| | High Seas, High Profits! | $14.99 | 165 86% | 5.0k | $74k (exactly $74,200) | lexy.zip | |
| | MarginCall | $14.99 | 111 78% | 3.3k | $50k (exactly $49,917) | Functionally Human | |
| | BIG LOOT | · EA | $15.99 | 83 68% | 2.5k | $40k (exactly $39,815) | Reverie Clouds |
| | Union Of Rivals | · EA | $25.49 | 31 64% | 930 | $24k (exactly $23,706) | 2Play |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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