Do I ship it?

Games › Resource Management › Resource Management + Science

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Science Resource Management game?

Resource Management + Science

Of 55 developers who shipped a Science Resource Management 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.. 96 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $6.0k, ×13 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $7.3M, ×15414 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 96 games are announced against 35 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 12.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 90% on the market, 96 announced, ×2.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Resource Management + Science
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 55
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.0k → $9.7k → $5.1k → $899 → $175k → $6.0k → $19k (still earning) → $4.6k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Resource Management + Science: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 55
Bottom 30% $719 (exactly $719)
Median $6.0k (exactly $5,997)
Top 25% $124k (exactly $124,159)
Top 5% $7.3M (exactly $7,321,759)
Developers, 2 yr 55
Released games 124
Announced 96
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 down 90% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 6%, 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.

Resource Management
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Science
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Resource Management; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Simulation, Strategy
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 70,054 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $720, median $6.0k, 1 in 4 over $120k, 1 in 20 over $7.3M.

3 in 10 developers made under $720. 4 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 96 games are announced against 35 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Resource Management with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Artificial IntelligenceFair102 devs · median $11k · 131 announced
  2. + DwarvesFair15 devs · median $11k · 24 announced
  3. + WesternFair19 devs · median $7.0k · 26 announced
  4. + SnowFair24 devs · median $3.8k · 36 announced
  5. + JRPGFair36 devs · median $2.7k · 27 announced
  6. + UnderwaterFair51 devs · median $2.3k · 74 announced
  7. + CollectathonFair167 devs · median $1.9k · 222 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair630 devs · median $1.8k · 1,025 announced
  9. + IdlerFair656 devs · median $1.6k · 979 announced
  10. + ArcadeFair322 devs · median $1.5k · 495 announced
  11. + HorsesFair11 devs · median $1.2k · 18 announced
  12. + Quick-Time EventsFair46 devs · median $719 · 55 announced

All 214 pairs on the Resource Management page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Timberborn 2026 · $40M SPORE™ 2008 · $40M The Alters 2025 · $16M Eco 2018 · EA · $10M Stationeers 2017 · EA · $9.0M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Timberborn $34.99 38,529 95% 1.2M $40M (exactly $40,443,891) Mechanistry
SPORE™ older $19.99 66,871 92% 2.0M $40M (exactly $40,102,539) Maxis™
The Alters $34.99 15,330 90% 460k $16M (exactly $16,091,901) 11 bit studios
Eco · EA older $29.99 11,375 80% 341k $10M (exactly $10,234,088) Strange Loop Games
Stationeers · EA older $34.99 8,597 88% 258k $9.0M (exactly $9,024,271) RocketWerkz
The Universim older $29.99 8,465 79% 254k $7.6M (exactly $7,615,960) Crytivo
Forever Skies $29.99 8,138 78% 244k $7.3M (exactly $7,321,759) Far From Home
Prehistoric Kingdom · EA older $29.99 5,640 90% 169k $5.1M (exactly $5,074,308) Blue Meridian
Per Aspera older $29.99 4,105 76% 123k $3.7M (exactly $3,693,268) Tlön Industries
Terraformers older $19.99 3,031 88% 91k $1.8M (exactly $1,817,691) Asteroid Lab
Star Birds · EA $19.99 2,990 92% 90k $1.8M (exactly $1,793,103) Toukana Interactive
Solar Expanse - Space Exploration Manager · EA $17.99 1,252 87% 38k $676k (exactly $675,704) SpaceOps
Ecosystem $19.99 601 76% 18k $360k (exactly $360,420) Tom Johnson
Planetary Life · EA $11.99 912 94% 27k $328k (exactly $328,046) Sotenbox
Zombie Cure Lab $24.99 393 65% 12k $295k (exactly $294,632) Thera Bytes GmbH
Data Center $8.99 916 76% 27k $247k (exactly $247,045) Waseku
Mudborne: Frog Management Sim $7.99 993 96% 30k $238k (exactly $238,022) ellraiser, TNgineers

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