Do I ship it?

Games › Programming › Programming + Typing

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Programming Typing game?

Programming + Typing

Of 31 developers who shipped a Programming Typing 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.. 30 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $900, ×1.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $540. Revenue is up 300% on the market; 30 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 300% on the market, 30 announced, ×1.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Programming + Typing
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 31
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.7k → $539 → $898 → $899 (still earning) → $7.6k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Programming + Typing: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 31
Bottom 30% $538 (exactly $538)
Median $899 (exactly $899)
Top 25% $7.5k (exactly $7,549)
Top 5% $182k (exactly $181,730)
Developers, 2 yr 31
Released games 56
Announced 30
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.49

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 300% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Typing
effort 1 / 10 · high · keyboard input against a word list

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Programming, Typing; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Logic, Puzzle
Price point
$5.49 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Text-Based, Atmospheric
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $5.49.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 1,686 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $540, median $900, 1 in 4 over $7.5k, 1 in 20 over $180k.

3 in 10 developers made under $540. All of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Programming with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Base BuildingFair13 devs · median $53k · 21 announced
  2. + Auto BattlerFair14 devs · median $14k · 14 announced
  3. + RogueliteFair24 devs · median $9.3k · 28 announced
  4. + SandboxFair60 devs · median $7.0k · 71 announced
  5. + Time ManagementFair15 devs · median $7.0k · 26 announced
  6. + AutomationFair84 devs · median $3.8k · 102 announced
  7. + Turn-Based TacticsFair14 devs · median $2.4k · 16 announced
  8. + SimulationFair132 devs · median $2.2k · 174 announced
  9. + RobotsFair24 devs · median $1.8k · 29 announced
  10. + CrimeFair12 devs · median $1.8k · 13 announced
  11. + Sci-fiFair56 devs · median $1.7k · 63 announced
  12. + FuturisticFair19 devs · median $1.2k · 25 announced

All 57 pairs on the Programming page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Hacknet 2015 · $5.1M Duskers 2016 · $1.4M Grey Hack 2017 · EA · $1.1M Hacker Simulator 2021 · $922k Uplink 2006 · $637k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Hacknet older $9.99 16,910 93% 507k $5.1M (exactly $5,067,927) Team Fractal Alligator
Duskers older $19.99 2,304 90% 69k $1.4M (exactly $1,381,709) Misfits Attic
Grey Hack · EA older $19.99 1,801 90% 54k $1.1M (exactly $1,080,060) Loading Home
Hacker Simulator older $24.99 1,230 74% 37k $922k (exactly $922,131) Save All Studio
Uplink older $11.99 1,771 89% 53k $637k (exactly $637,029) Introversion Software
Quadrilateral Cowboy older $19.99 897 92% 27k $538k (exactly $537,931) Blendo Games
HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator $16.99 937 88% 28k $478k (exactly $477,589) HotBunny
Anonymous Hacker Simulator older $19.99 741 85% 22k $444k (exactly $444,378) Sicarius
IT Specialist Simulator · EA $13.99 433 74% 13k $182k (exactly $181,730) Pixel Team RED
MHRD older $9.99 438 88% 13k $131k (exactly $131,269) Funghisoft
Cyber Warrior $19.99 39 84% 1.2k $23k (exactly $23,388) Dunke Games
Hacky $4.99 95 93% 2.9k $14k (exactly $14,222) Cuddle Code
Yet Another Incremental Game (but this time about coding) · EA $7.99 39 71% 1.2k $9.3k (exactly $9,348) Raclette Games
Blackdoor $12.99 20 85% 600 $7.8k (exactly $7,794) Static Signal
Void Future: Hacking Protocol $14.99 17 88% 510 $7.6k (exactly $7,645) RVL Interactive
Kinetype · EA $6.99 36 83% 1.1k $7.5k (exactly $7,549) Morlytic
Torrent Empire $7.99 24 62% 720 $5.8k (exactly $5,753) Steel Games
Brainfuck Challenge $2.99 46 97% 1.4k $4.1k (exactly $4,126) Lyric Law

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.