Games › Programming › Programming + Time Management
Should I ship a Programming Time Management game?
Programming + Time Management
Only 15 developers shipped a Programming Time Management 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, Data Center, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 26 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $7.0k, ×15 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $1.8k. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 26 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
|---|---|
| Median | $7.0k (exactly $7,008) |
| Top 25% | $31k (exactly $31,487) |
| Top 5% | $247k (exactly $247,045) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 31 |
| Announced | 26 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.30 |
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 550% 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.
- Programming
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Time Management
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Programming, Time Management; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Economy, Sandbox
- Price point
- $8.30 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Difficult, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $8.30.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 2,028 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.8k. 26 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Programming with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Base BuildingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + RogueliteFair
- + SandboxFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
- + SimulationFair
- + RobotsFair
- + CrimeFair
- + Sci-fiFair
- + FuturisticFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
Software Inc. 2015 · EA · $5.2M 
Uplink 2006 · $637k 
Data Center 2026 · $247k 
Stuck In Time 2021 · $244k 
Craftlings 2026 · $187k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Software Inc. | · EA older | $22.99 | 7,576 94% | 227k | $5.2M (exactly $5,225,167) | Coredumping |
| | Uplink | older | $11.99 | 1,771 89% | 53k | $637k (exactly $637,029) | Introversion Software |
| | Data Center | $8.99 | 916 76% | 27k | $247k (exactly $247,045) | Waseku | |
| | Stuck In Time | older | $7.99 | 1,018 84% | 31k | $244k (exactly $244,015) | Housemade Inc. |
| | Craftlings | $19.99 | 311 86% | 9.3k | $187k (exactly $186,507) | ARIANO Games GmbH | |
 | Net.Attack() - Code or Die! | $7.99 | 510 80% | 15k | $122k (exactly $122,247) | ByteRockers' Games | |
 | Startup Panic | older | $14.99 | 211 55% | 6.3k | $95k (exactly $94,887) | Algorocks |
 | [Chilla's Art] The Caregiver | 終焉介護 | older | $4.99 | 431 80% | 13k | $65k (exactly $64,521) | Chilla's Art |
 | Web Host Simulator | · EA | $24.99 | 42 26% | 1.3k | $31k (exactly $31,487) | Chibum |
 | The Legend of Pomodoro | $6.99 | 94 82% | 2.8k | $20k (exactly $19,712) | Tony Wang | |
 | SysAdmin Odyssey - Back to the office | · EA | $8.30 | 40 75% | 1.2k | $10k (exactly $9,960) | Molodoy-GameDev |
 | Yet Another Incremental Game (but this time about coding) | · EA | $7.99 | 39 71% | 1.2k | $9.3k (exactly $9,348) | Raclette Games |
 | Games Tycoon | $5.99 | 39 53% | 1.2k | $7.0k (exactly $7,008) | Insignis Games | |
 | F.A.R.M.S.: Chill Factory | $7.99 | 22 72% | 660 | $5.3k (exactly $5,273) | Plema Crafts | |
 | Code Tycoon | $9.99 | 15 80% | 450 | $4.5k (exactly $4,496) | Mennen Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.