Games › Programming › Programming + Robots
Should I ship a Robot Programming game?
Programming + Robots
Of 24 developers who shipped a Robot Programming 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.. 29 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is up 195% on the market; 29 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
| Top 25% | $21k (exactly $20,854) |
| Top 5% | $204k (exactly $204,007) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 24 |
| Released games | 90 |
| Announced | 29 |
| 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 up 195% on the market, supply 200% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Programming
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Robots
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Programming; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Strategy, Automation
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Difficult
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 1,910 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Programming with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Base BuildingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + RogueliteFair
- + SandboxFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
- + SimulationFair
- + CrimeFair
- + Sci-fiFair
- + FuturisticFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
Starbase 2021 · EA · $6.5M 
Autonauts 2019 · $2.2M 
Nimbatus - The Space Drone Constructor 2020 · $1.1M 
Main Assembly 2021 · $602k 
The Signal State 2021 · $389k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Starbase | · EA older | $34.99 | 6,217 56% | 187k | $6.5M (exactly $6,525,985) | Frozenbyte |
| | Autonauts | older | $19.99 | 3,596 90% | 108k | $2.2M (exactly $2,156,521) | Denki |
| | Nimbatus - The Space Drone Constructor | older | $19.99 | 1,758 78% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,054,273) | Stray Fawn Studio |
| | Main Assembly | older | $19.99 | 1,004 83% | 30k | $602k (exactly $602,099) | Bad Yolk Games |
| | The Signal State | older | $19.99 | 649 86% | 19k | $389k (exactly $389,205) | Reckoner Industries |
 | GLADIABOTS - AI Combat Arena | older | $14.99 | 846 87% | 25k | $380k (exactly $380,446) | GFX47 |
 | Homebrew - Patent Unknown | · EA older | $14.99 | 828 71% | 25k | $372k (exactly $372,352) | Copybugpaste |
 | Craftomation 101: Programming & Craft | $14.99 | 636 83% | 19k | $286k (exactly $286,009) | Luden.io | |
 | Crypto Mining Simulator | older | $4.99 | 1,419 65% | 43k | $212k (exactly $212,424) | Satosha Nakamoti |
 | JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator | $17.99 | 378 76% | 11k | $204k (exactly $204,007) | Prof. Scherer | |
 | Net.Attack() - Code or Die! | $7.99 | 510 80% | 15k | $122k (exactly $122,247) | ByteRockers' Games | |
 | Icaria | $24.99 | 79 75% | 2.4k | $59k (exactly $59,226) | Blindsight Games LLC | |
 | Age Of Warbots | $9.99 | 160 83% | 4.8k | $48k (exactly $47,952) | VDimension | |
 | Electrogical | $7.99 | 87 93% | 2.6k | $21k (exactly $20,854) | kinjo | |
 | Code, Solve, Revolt! | $11.99 | 21 100% | 630 | $7.6k (exactly $7,554) | Joyful Jo | |
 | Typhon: Bot vs Bot | · EA | $19.99 | 12 75% | 360 | $7.2k (exactly $7,196) | Brightshade Games |
 | ChipWits | $10.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $4.3k (exactly $4,286) | ChipWits, Inc. | |
 | SirKwitz 2 | $8.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $3.8k (exactly $3,776) | Predict Edumedia |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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