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Should I ship a Roguelite Space Sim?
Space Sim + Roguelite
Of 40 developers who shipped a Roguelite Space Sim 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.. 66 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $770k, ×1240 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 66 games are announced against 24 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $899 (exactly $899) |
| Top 25% | $7.5k (exactly $7,547) |
| Top 5% | $779k (exactly $778,938) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 40 |
| Released games | 95 |
| Announced | 66 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Space Sim, Roguelite; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Simulation, Strategy
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 9,840 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 18 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 66 games are announced against 24 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Space Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DestructionFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + WarFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SportsFair
- + DiplomacyLong shot
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Strategy RPGPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
Comparable games
FTL: Faster Than Light 2012 · $19M 
EVERSPACE™ 2017 · $5.9M 
Void Crew 2024 · $4.9M 
Between the Stars 2024 · $1.8M 
Star Traders: Frontiers 2018 · $1.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | FTL: Faster Than Light | older | $9.99 | 62,763 94% | 1.9M | $19M (exactly $18,810,071) | Subset Games |
| | EVERSPACE™ | older | $19.99 | 9,809 77% | 294k | $5.9M (exactly $5,882,457) | ROCKFISH Games |
| | Void Crew | $24.99 | 6,573 86% | 197k | $4.9M (exactly $4,927,778) | Hutlihut Games | |
| | Between the Stars | older | $29.99 | 1,965 75% | 59k | $1.8M (exactly $1,767,910) | Isolated Games |
| | Star Traders: Frontiers | older | $14.99 | 3,672 83% | 110k | $1.7M (exactly $1,651,298) | Trese Brothers |
 | Shortest Trip to Earth | older | $25.99 | 1,257 76% | 38k | $980k (exactly $980,083) | Interactive Fate |
 | Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition | older | $19.99 | 1,566 73% | 47k | $939k (exactly $939,130) | Radiation Blue |
 | Jumplight Odyssey | · EA older | $29.99 | 961 58% | 29k | $865k (exactly $864,612) | League of Geeks |
 | Space Crew: Legendary Edition | older | $15.99 | 1,684 77% | 51k | $808k (exactly $807,815) | Runner Duck |
 | Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes | $24.99 | 1,039 76% | 31k | $779k (exactly $778,938) | Alt Shift | |
 | Nonentity Galaxy | $9.99 | 587 94% | 18k | $176k (exactly $175,924) | Brick-Up Studio | |
 | Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite | $5.99 | 698 83% | 21k | $125k (exactly $125,431) | RyanJakob | |
 | Star Survivor | $4.99 | 540 67% | 16k | $81k (exactly $80,838) | SpaceOwl Games, Erabit | |
 | Deep Space Exploitation | $8.99 | 131 96% | 3.9k | $35k (exactly $35,331) | JuhrJuhr | |
 | Endless Dark | $7.99 | 115 99% | 3.5k | $28k (exactly $27,566) | Little Light Studios, LLC | |
 | Periapsis: Eclipse | · EA | $14.99 | 53 71% | 1.6k | $24k (exactly $23,834) | Skytrellis Games |
 | Catharage | $9.99 | 62 82% | 1.9k | $19k (exactly $18,581) | Björn Michalski | |
 | Galactic Simulator2: Stargate | $5.99 | 42 78% | 1.3k | $7.5k (exactly $7,547) | PcZ Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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