Games › Transportation › Transportation + Puzzle
Should I ship a Puzzle Transportation game?
Transportation + Puzzle
Of 39 developers who shipped a Puzzle Transportation 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.. 53 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $2.1M, ×3389 the market median. Revenue is up 25% on the market; 53 games are announced against 24 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $11,988) |
| Top 5% | $2.1M (exactly $2,128,292) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 39 |
| Released games | 126 |
| Announced | 53 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 25% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Transportation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Puzzle
- effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Transportation, Puzzle; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Building, Logic
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.69 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Relaxing, Stylized
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.69 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 22,156 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 53 games are announced against 24 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Transportation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Character CustomizationFair
- + PvPFair
- + 3D PlatformerFair
- + RacingFair
- + Action-AdventureFair
- + LogicFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Level EditorPoor odds
- + Life SimPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | shapez 2 - Factory | $29.99 | 13,846 96% | 415k | $12M (exactly $12,457,246) | tobspr Games | |
| | Mini Motorways | older | $9.99 | 23,561 96% | 707k | $7.1M (exactly $7,061,232) | Dinosaur Polo Club |
| | Mini Metro | older | $9.99 | 12,800 95% | 384k | $3.8M (exactly $3,836,160) | Dinosaur Polo Club |
| | Cheap Car Repair | $19.69 | 3,603 91% | 108k | $2.1M (exactly $2,128,292) | Little Dog Games | |
| | Mars First Logistics | $19.99 | 3,497 94% | 105k | $2.1M (exactly $2,097,151) | Shape Shop | |
| | Rail Route | older | $24.99 | 2,400 88% | 72k | $1.8M (exactly $1,799,280) | Bitrich.info |
| | Fly Corp | older | $14.99 | 3,112 85% | 93k | $1.4M (exactly $1,399,466) | KishMish Games |
| | RAILGRADE | older | $29.99 | 1,205 84% | 36k | $1.1M (exactly $1,084,138) | Minakata Dynamics |
| | I am an Air Traffic Controller 4 | older | $59.99 | 566 79% | 17k | $1.0M (exactly $1,018,630) | TechnoBrain |
| | Train Valley | older | $9.99 | 2,621 89% | 79k | $786k (exactly $785,514) | Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timof… (Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm) |
| | GRIDROAD | $9.99 | 385 82% | 12k | $115k (exactly $115,384) | RAJACORP | |
| | Super Loco World - Cozy Train Automation | $9.99 | 329 76% | 9.9k | $99k (exactly $98,601) | Andrii Bychkovskyi | |
| | Train Valley Origins | $11.95 | 266 75% | 8.0k | $95k (exactly $95,361) | Flazm | |
| | ATC Ground Point | $15.99 | 77 81% | 2.3k | $37k (exactly $36,937) | Blueon | |
| | Constracktion | $14.99 | 62 66% | 1.9k | $28k (exactly $27,881) | Lapioware | |
| | The Lilliput Workshop | $7.99 | 51 88% | 1.5k | $12k (exactly $12,225) | Cotton Game | |
| | Parking in Tight Spaces | $9.99 | 40 77% | 1.2k | $12k (exactly $11,988) | Hungry Devs |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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