Do I ship it?

Games › Simulation › Simulation + Solitaire

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Solitaire Simulation game?

Simulation + Solitaire

Of 56 developers who shipped a Solitaire 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.. 46 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $240. Revenue is up 200% on the market; 46 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 200% on the market, 46 announced, ×1.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Simulation + Solitaire
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 56
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $921 → $1.1k → $2.5k → $300 → $809 → $3.8k → $4.3k (still earning) → $238 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Simulation + Solitaire: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 56
Bottom 30% $239 (exactly $239)
Median $718 (exactly $718)
Top 25% $6.3k (exactly $6,267)
Top 5% $120k (exactly $120,180)
Developers, 2 yr 56
Released games 157
Announced 46
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 up 200% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, 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.

Simulation
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Solitaire
effort 1 / 10 · high · fixed rules, cards and a table

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Simulation, Solitaire; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Card Game, Management
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Stylized
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 37% positive over 24,262 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $720, 1 in 4 over $6.2k, 1 in 20 over $120k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 26 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 46 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVStrong odds150 devs · median $55k · 81 announced
  2. + Escape RoomStrong odds36 devs · median $3.6k · 26 announced
  3. + World War IFair23 devs · median $32k · 32 announced
  4. + Job SimulatorFair285 devs · median $12k · 362 announced
  5. + LGBTQ+Fair272 devs · median $9.7k · 303 announced
  6. + PinballFair27 devs · median $8.2k · 28 announced
  7. + Female ProtagonistFair672 devs · median $5.1k · 754 announced
  8. + BirdsFair19 devs · median $3.8k · 16 announced
  9. + Artificial IntelligenceFair387 devs · median $3.0k · 490 announced
  10. + MusicFair81 devs · median $3.0k · 92 announced
  11. + Auto BattlerFair219 devs · median $2.5k · 293 announced
  12. + ProgrammingFair132 devs · median $2.2k · 174 announced

All 287 pairs on the Simulation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Stacklands 2022 · $7.0M Your Only Move Is HUSTLE 2023 · $5.8M Root 2020 · $2.3M BidKing 2026 · $2.0M SHENZHEN I/O 2016 · $1.7M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Stacklands older $7.99 29,244 96% 877k $7.0M (exactly $7,009,787) Sokpop Collective
Your Only Move Is HUSTLE older $4.99 38,703 96% 1.2M $5.8M (exactly $5,793,839) Ivy Sly
Root older $14.99 5,049 90% 151k $2.3M (exactly $2,270,535) Dire Wolf
BidKing $2.99 22,238 33% 667k $2.0M (exactly $1,994,749) MindSurge Network & Games
SHENZHEN I/O older $14.99 3,746 95% 112k $1.7M (exactly $1,684,576) Zachtronics
Retirement Simulator · EA older $13.99 3,757 34% 113k $1.6M (exactly $1,576,813) DoubleThink Studio
Cardboard Town older $19.99 2,051 79% 62k $1.2M (exactly $1,229,985) Stratera Games, cukuto
Last Call BBS older $19.99 1,220 94% 37k $732k (exactly $731,634) Zachtronics
Kaizen: A Factory Story $19.99 694 91% 21k $416k (exactly $416,192) Coincidence
Purple Place - Classic Games older $1.99 2,305 85% 69k $138k (exactly $137,608) Sam Cohle
Wordatro! $9.99 401 85% 12k $120k (exactly $120,180) Le Poulet
Sherman Commander $29.99 117 64% 3.5k $105k (exactly $105,265) Iron Wolf Studio S.A.
U.V.S. Nirmana $14.99 213 88% 6.4k $96k (exactly $95,786) Coincidence
Factory Planner · EA $7.99 385 70% 12k $92k (exactly $92,284) Lebleby Games
Arcana Academy $14.99 67 71% 2.0k $30k (exactly $30,130) 2A Studio
Paper Kingdom $12.99 65 61% 2.0k $25k (exactly $25,330) obece
Pro Strategy Football 2026 $24.99 28 89% 840 $21k (exactly $20,992) Kerry Batts
Decks of the Damned $9.99 54 68% 1.6k $16k (exactly $16,184) Thorian Games

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