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Should I ship a Sokoban Simulation game?
Simulation + Sokoban
Of 26 developers who shipped a Sokoban Simulation 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.. 12 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360, ×0.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90. Revenue is down 80% on the market, with 12 games announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $359 (exactly $359) |
| Top 25% | $3.1k (exactly $3,144) |
| Top 5% | $11k (exactly $10,793) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 26 |
| Released games | 64 |
| Announced | 12 |
| 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 down 80% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 2%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Sokoban
- effort 2 / 10 · high · grid pushing rules and level files
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Sokoban; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Adventure, Logic
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 260 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. All of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 12 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Waifu Secret 2021 · $40k 
4D Intuition 2026 · $30k 
Roody:2d 2023 · EA · $22k 
SOKOBOT 2022 · $19k 
Time Bandit – Part 1: Appendages of the Machine 2023 · $19k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Waifu Secret | older | $1.99 | 677 72% | 20k | $40k (exactly $40,417) | Romantic Room |
| | 4D Intuition | $14.99 | 67 100% | 2.0k | $30k (exactly $30,130) | Yu Gu (yugu233) | |
| | Roody:2d | · EA older | $14.99 | 48 97% | 1.4k | $22k (exactly $21,586) | redinator2000 |
| | SOKOBOT | older | $13.99 | 46 91% | 1.4k | $19k (exactly $19,306) | Alexander Taylor |
| | Time Bandit – Part 1: Appendages of the Machine | older | $9.99 | 64 93% | 1.9k | $19k (exactly $19,181) | Joel Jordon |
 | A Street Cat's Tale 2: Outside is Dangerous | older | $13.99 | 38 89% | 1.1k | $16k (exactly $15,949) | PPIYO STUDIO |
 | Forklift Load | older | $2.99 | 130 83% | 3.9k | $12k (exactly $11,661) | KIMIDORI SOFT |
 | PortalSnake | older | $6.99 | 54 100% | 1.6k | $11k (exactly $11,324) | bcat112a |
 | Signal Maze | $14.99 | 24 95% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | theArkitect | |
 | Schoolgirl Card Pull Simulator | $6.99 | 34 61% | 1.0k | $7.1k (exactly $7,130) | Violet Soft | |
 | Do You even Forklift? | $7.99 | 25 100% | 750 | $6.0k (exactly $5,992) | Garage 5 | |
 | Isekai Mage Girl Gacha Pull Simulator: Elemental Card Collection | $6.99 | 27 74% | 810 | $5.7k (exactly $5,662) | Violet Soft | |
 | Super Miners | · EA | $9.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) | METAGAR |
 | 刻印战记1：法利兹传 | $8.99 | 13 53% | 390 | $3.5k (exactly $3,506) | Lycian Studio | |
 | Nexus of Fate | $4.99 | 21 85% | 630 | $3.1k (exactly $3,144) | theNeko | |
 | CLONY | $2.99 | 31 100% | 930 | $2.8k (exactly $2,781) | YORUROJI | |
 | NTR Neko Maid: Erotic Favor | $14.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $2.2k (exactly $2,248) | ハーフトーンドット |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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