Games › Strategy › Strategy + Walking Simulator
Should I ship a Walking Simulator Strategy game?
Strategy + Walking Simulator
Of 67 developers who shipped a Walking Simulator Strategy 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.. 85 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480 in the last 2 years and $480 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 38 developers shipped in the last year and 85 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $66 (exactly $66) |
|---|---|
| Median | $479 (exactly $479) |
| Top 25% | $2.9k (exactly $2,875) |
| Top 5% | $42k (exactly $42,427) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 67 |
| Released games | 205 |
| Announced | 85 |
| 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 up 220% on the market, supply 30% 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.
- Strategy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Walking Simulator
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Strategy, Walking Simulator; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Simulation, Exploration
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 1,921 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $66. 9 in 10 of the 39 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 85 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Strategy with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + BaseballFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + WuxiaFair
- + FarmingFair
- + Martial ArtsFair
- + SubmarineFair
- + NavalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Shop KeeperFair
- + HackingFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | theHunter: Call of the Wild™ | older | $19.99 | 170,472 89% | 5.1M | $102M (exactly $102,232,058) | Expansive Worlds |
| | The Isle | · EA older | $19.99 | 111,397 80% | 3.3M | $67M (exactly $66,804,781) | Afterthought LLC |
| | The Long Dark | older | $19.99 | 110,264 89% | 3.3M | $66M (exactly $66,125,321) | Hinterland Studio Inc. |
| | Streamer Life Simulator | older | $19.99 | 7,066 77% | 212k | $4.2M (exactly $4,237,480) | Cheesecake Dev |
| | Internet Cafe Simulator | older | $9.99 | 8,729 75% | 262k | $2.6M (exactly $2,616,081) | Cheesecake Dev |
| | King of Retail | older | $25.99 | 2,982 88% | 89k | $2.3M (exactly $2,325,065) | Freaking Games |
| | The Magic Circle | older | $19.99 | 1,080 91% | 32k | $648k (exactly $647,676) | Question |
| | Sakura Swim Club | older | $9.99 | 2,070 85% | 62k | $620k (exactly $620,379) | Winged Cloud |
| | Quadrober Simulator | $29.99 | 684 79% | 21k | $615k (exactly $615,395) | PropilGames | |
| | Plane Mechanic Simulator | older | $11.99 | 1,561 56% | 47k | $561k (exactly $561,492) | Cobble Games, Disaster Studio |
| | Forest Hustle | $4.99 | 570 90% | 17k | $85k (exactly $85,329) | Mike Forest | |
| | Ire: A Prologue | $19.99 | 77 61% | 2.3k | $46k (exactly $46,177) | ProbablyMonsters | |
| | Anomaly Company | $7.99 | 177 77% | 5.3k | $42k (exactly $42,427) | Kekdot | |
| | Tech Store Simulator | $9.99 | 103 61% | 3.1k | $31k (exactly $30,869) | Astrasoft | |
| | Biztopia | · EA | $7.99 | 105 68% | 3.2k | $25k (exactly $25,168) | Lymo Games |
| | I Sell Lemonade | $13.99 | 56 67% | 1.7k | $24k (exactly $23,503) | EBS, Picklebyte | |
| | Missile Command Delta | $19.99 | 31 83% | 930 | $19k (exactly $18,591) | 13AM Games, Mighty Yell | |
| | Circus of Pain | $7.99 | 71 74% | 2.1k | $17k (exactly $17,019) | ZV GAMES | |
| | Ramona | $9.99 | 47 76% | 1.4k | $14k (exactly $14,086) | Daniele Doesn't Matter |
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.