Games › Sandbox › Sandbox + Tabletop
Should I ship a Tabletop Sandbox?
Sandbox + Tabletop
Of 43 developers who shipped a Tabletop Sandbox 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.. 55 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $840, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $170k, ×277 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 55 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $838 (exactly $838) |
| Top 25% | $25k (exactly $24,875) |
| Top 5% | $174k (exactly $173,913) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 43 |
| Released games | 121 |
| Announced | 55 |
| 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 down 80% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, 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
- Sandbox, Tabletop; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Strategy, Card Game
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 3,805 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 7 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 55 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Sandbox with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FightingStrong odds
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + CatsFair
- + SportsFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Trading Card GameFair
- + IdlerFair
Comparable games
Tabletop Simulator 2015 · $28M 
TaleSpire 2021 · EA · $3.3M 
As Far As The Eye 2020 · $1.2M 
Timeflow – Life Sim 2019 · EA · $620k 
Doodle God 2015 · $463k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tabletop Simulator | older | $19.99 | 46,875 95% | 1.4M | $28M (exactly $28,110,937) | Berserk Games |
| | TaleSpire | · EA older | $24.99 | 4,391 89% | 132k | $3.3M (exactly $3,291,933) | Bouncyrock Entertainment |
| | As Far As The Eye | older | $24.99 | 1,640 73% | 49k | $1.2M (exactly $1,229,508) | Unexpected |
| | Timeflow – Life Sim | · EA older | $14.99 | 1,379 91% | 41k | $620k (exactly $620,136) | Digital Geckos |
| | Doodle God | older | $14.99 | 1,030 77% | 31k | $463k (exactly $463,191) | JoyBits Ltd. |
 | Card Cultivation | $14.99 | 694 70% | 21k | $312k (exactly $312,092) | DarkIndex | |
 | Small World | older | $9.99 | 931 71% | 28k | $279k (exactly $279,021) | Days of Wonder |
 | Doodle Empires | · EA | $6.99 | 1,279 92% | 38k | $268k (exactly $268,206) | Turtle Stack Games |
 | Archmage Rises | · EA older | $14.99 | 392 68% | 12k | $176k (exactly $176,282) | Defiance Game Studio |
 | Master of Chess | $19.99 | 290 83% | 8.7k | $174k (exactly $173,913) | BRANE | |
 | Stack to Ascension | $12.99 | 331 54% | 9.9k | $129k (exactly $128,991) | Stack to Ascension | |
 | Factory Planner | · EA | $7.99 | 385 70% | 12k | $92k (exactly $92,284) | Lebleby Games |
 | Sizzle & Stack | $9.99 | 264 72% | 7.9k | $79k (exactly $79,121) | Arvis Games | |
 | Mushroom Nook | $4.99 | 392 98% | 12k | $59k (exactly $58,682) | HyperstasisGaming | |
 | Amberspire | $24.99 | 58 86% | 1.7k | $43k (exactly $43,483) | Lunar Division | |
 | Table Battle Simulator | · EA | $12.99 | 85 74% | 2.6k | $33k (exactly $33,124) | Kiki Games |
 | Master of Realms | · EA | $39.99 | 27 81% | 810 | $32k (exactly $32,392) | TheMasterForge LLC |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.