Do I ship it?

Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Robots

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Robot Time Manipulation game?

Time Manipulation + Robots

Only 12 developers shipped a Robot Time Manipulation 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, The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 16 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $11k, ×17 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50; 1 in 20 cleared $1.2M, ×1917 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 16 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 17.2 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 16 announced, ×2.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Time Manipulation + Robots
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 12
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $240 → $8.1k → $539 → $129k → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Time Manipulation + Robots: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 12
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $11k (exactly $10,793)
Top 25% $129k (exactly $128,871)
Top 5% $1.2M (exactly $1,203,999)
Developers, 2 yr 12
Released games 43
Announced 16
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $14.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 40% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, 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.

Time Manipulation
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Robots
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Time Manipulation
Price point
$14.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 8 games average 91% positive over 1,642 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $11k, 1 in 4 over $120k, 1 in 20 over $1.2M.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 5 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 16 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Time Manipulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + DemonsFair14 devs · median $2.7k · 9 announced
  2. + CapitalismFair9 devs · median $1.8k · 14 announced
  3. + ModernFair12 devs · median $987 · 9 announced
  4. + PsychologicalFair18 devs · median $897 · 17 announced
  5. + CollectathonFair10 devs · median $657 · 15 announced
  6. + RacingFair10 devs · median $599 · 12 announced
  7. + Precision PlatformerFair22 devs · median $598 · 20 announced
  8. + Choose Your Own AdventurePoor odds9 devs · median $13k · 24 announced
  9. + Post-apocalypticPoor odds7 devs · median $6.7k · 22 announced
  10. + DetectivePoor odds16 devs · median $6.5k · 32 announced
  11. + NoirPoor odds9 devs · median $6.5k · 15 announced
  12. + RPGPoor odds32 devs · median $5.4k · 93 announced

All 103 pairs on the Time Manipulation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Phantom Brigade 2023 · $4.0M The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II 2025 · $1.2M Advent NEON® 2025 · $180k Sine Mora EX 2017 · $139k MotionRec 2025 · $129k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Phantom Brigade older $29.99 4,412 81% 132k $4.0M (exactly $3,969,476) Brace Yourself Games
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II $59.99 669 83% 20k $1.2M (exactly $1,203,999) Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH
Advent NEON® $19.99 300 98% 9.0k $180k (exactly $179,910) CryoGX
Sine Mora EX older $9.99 463 66% 14k $139k (exactly $138,761) Digital Reality, Grasshopper Manufactur… (Digital Reality, Grasshopper Manufacture, Gyroscope Games)
MotionRec $9.99 430 99% 13k $129k (exactly $128,871) HANDSUM
NODE $24.99 146 91% 4.4k $109k (exactly $109,456) Lapsus Games
District Steel · EA older $24.99 76 93% 2.3k $57k (exactly $56,977) Barricade Studio
PERIMETER: Legate Edition older $9.99 143 92% 4.3k $43k (exactly $42,857) K-D Lab
PositronX older $19.99 56 71% 1.7k $34k (exactly $33,583) Scorpius Games
Amber City older $13.99 46 95% 1.4k $19k (exactly $19,306) Irisloft
Temporal Titans · EA $9.99 44 95% 1.3k $13k (exactly $13,187) Lost Tower Games
Time Hacker $14.99 24 70% 720 $11k (exactly $10,793) Joy Way
Typhon: Bot vs Bot · EA $19.99 12 75% 360 $7.2k (exactly $7,196) Brightshade Games
AIRANBLADE $8.99 17 94% 510 $4.6k (exactly $4,585) ANIMABOX
Soft(A)ware $18.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) B0TLANNER Games
Code My Robot Vacuum · EA $5.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Umit Canbolat

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