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Should I ship a Time Manipulation Simulation game?
Simulation + Time Manipulation
Of 61 developers who shipped a Time Manipulation 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.. 99 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $400, ×0.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $89. 99 games are announced against 42 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper, while revenue is down 10% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $89 (exactly $89) |
|---|---|
| Median | $395 (exactly $395) |
| Top 25% | $2.3k (exactly $2,338) |
| Top 5% | $327k (exactly $326,958) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 61 |
| Released games | 208 |
| Announced | 99 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Time Manipulation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Time Manipulation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 2D, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 8,328 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $89. 8 in 10 of the 36 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 99 games are announced against 42 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
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
F1® Manager 2024 2024 · $5.8M 
Phantom Brigade 2023 · $4.0M 
Sovereign Tower 2026 · $1.9M 
Hotel Architect 2026 · $1.7M 
No Time 2019 · EA · $825k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | F1® Manager 2024 | older | $34.99 | 5,554 83% | 167k | $5.8M (exactly $5,830,034) | Frontier Developments |
| | Phantom Brigade | older | $29.99 | 4,412 81% | 132k | $4.0M (exactly $3,969,476) | Brace Yourself Games |
| | Sovereign Tower | $19.99 | 3,087 93% | 93k | $1.9M (exactly $1,851,274) | WILD WITS GAMES | |
| | Hotel Architect | $29.99 | 1,934 94% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,740,020) | Pathos Interactive | |
| | No Time | · EA older | $12.99 | 2,117 97% | 64k | $825k (exactly $824,995) | Lost in Days Studio |
 | Gravity Field | older | $29.99 | 778 79% | 23k | $700k (exactly $699,967) | Kazakov Studios |
 | Million Depth | $16.99 | 673 93% | 20k | $343k (exactly $343,028) | Cyber Space Biotope | |
 | Arizona Derby | older | $18.99 | 601 77% | 18k | $342k (exactly $342,390) | Falcon Interactive |
 | No Plan B | older | $14.99 | 761 86% | 23k | $342k (exactly $342,222) | GFX47 |
 | Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum | $12.99 | 839 98% | 25k | $327k (exactly $326,958) | nodayshalleraseyou | |
 | Paragnosia | $3.99 | 228 92% | 6.8k | $27k (exactly $27,292) | Sine Coda | |
 | Paragnosia: Museum | $5.99 | 139 87% | 4.2k | $25k (exactly $24,978) | Sine Coda | |
 | Coconut Simulator | $0.99 | 735 96% | 22k | $22k (exactly $21,830) | Dynamic Games | |
 | Coconut Simulator 2 | $0.99 | 621 96% | 19k | $18k (exactly $18,444) | Dynamic Games | |
 | Time Hacker | $14.99 | 24 70% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | Joy Way | |
 | Doujin Fever!! Night Assault! | $6.99 | 48 85% | 1.4k | $10k (exactly $10,066) | Genesis Arthangel |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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