Games › Mechanics › Automation
Should I ship an Automation game?
Automation
Of 1,112 developers who shipped an Automation 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.. 1,783 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.0k, ×3.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $480k, ×778 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 1,783 games are announced against 812 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.0k (exactly $2,035) |
| Top 25% | $22k (exactly $21,593) |
| Top 5% | $489k (exactly $488,802) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 1,112 |
| Released games | 2,086 |
| Announced | 1,783 |
| 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 up 30% on the market, supply 155% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Automation
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Automation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 842,903 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 7 in 10 of the 388 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 1,783 games are announced against 812 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
All pairs with Automation
- Automation + Female Protagonist Strong odds $4.5k
- Automation + Horror Fair $8.0k
- Automation + Historical Fair $7.9k
- Automation + Underground Fair $7.4k
- Automation + Nature Fair $2.5k
- Automation + Cyberpunk Fair $1.7k
- Automation + Modern Fair $1.3k
- Automation + Dystopian Fair $1.2k
- Automation + Crime Poor odds $33k
- Automation + Trains Poor odds $16k
- Automation + Psychological Horror Poor odds $16k
- Automation + Science Poor odds $10k
- Automation + Post-apocalyptic Poor odds $7.2k
- Automation + Farming Poor odds $6.5k
- Automation + Dark Fantasy Poor odds $6.5k
- Automation + Magic Poor odds $5.7k
- Automation + Capitalism Poor odds $3.8k
- Automation + Robots Poor odds $3.8k
- Automation + Cats Poor odds $3.7k
- Automation + Fantasy Poor odds $3.2k
- Automation + Hacking Poor odds $3.1k
- Automation + Sci-fi Poor odds $2.5k
- Automation + Space Poor odds $2.4k
- Automation + Medieval Poor odds $2.4k
- Automation + War Poor odds $2.4k
- Automation + Artificial Intelligence Poor odds $1.7k
- Automation + Alternate History Poor odds $1.7k
- Automation + Futuristic Poor odds $1.5k
- Automation + Mystery Poor odds $719
- Automation + Military Poor odds $539
- Automation + Aliens Poor odds $450
- Automation + Zombies Poor odds $150
Comparable games
Palworld 2026 · $371M 
Satisfactory 2024 · $282M 
Factorio 2020 · $201M 
Schedule I 2025 · EA · $173M 
ASTRONEER 2019 · $107M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Palworld | $29.99 | 411,947 94% | 12M | $371M (exactly $370,628,716) | Pocketpair | |
| | Satisfactory | older | $39.99 | 234,993 97% | 7.0M | $282M (exactly $281,921,102) | Coffee Stain Studios |
| | Factorio | older | $35.00 | 191,814 97% | 5.8M | $201M (exactly $201,404,700) | Wube Software LTD. |
| | Schedule I | · EA | $19.99 | 288,939 97% | 8.7M | $173M (exactly $173,276,718) | TVGS |
| | ASTRONEER | older | $29.99 | 118,844 91% | 3.6M | $107M (exactly $106,923,947) | System Era Softworks |
 | Dyson Sphere Program | · EA older | $19.99 | 83,523 97% | 2.5M | $50M (exactly $50,088,743) | Youthcat Studio |
 | The Planet Crafter | older | $23.99 | 68,855 96% | 2.1M | $50M (exactly $49,554,944) | Miju Games |
 | Stormworks: Build and Rescue | older | $24.99 | 54,649 90% | 1.6M | $41M (exactly $40,970,355) | Geometa |
 | Timberborn | $34.99 | 38,529 95% | 1.2M | $40M (exactly $40,443,891) | Mechanistry | |
 | Soulmask | $29.99 | 18,445 76% | 553k | $17M (exactly $16,594,966) | CampFire Studio | |
 | RoadCraft | $39.99 | 13,527 74% | 406k | $16M (exactly $16,228,342) | Saber Interactive | |
 | The Last Caretaker | · EA | $34.99 | 13,178 86% | 395k | $14M (exactly $13,832,947) | Channel37 Ltd |
 | shapez 2 - Factory | $29.99 | 13,846 96% | 415k | $12M (exactly $12,457,246) | tobspr Games | |
 | Necesse | $14.99 | 24,425 93% | 733k | $11M (exactly $10,983,922) | Fair Games ApS | |
 | StarRupture | · EA | $19.99 | 12,333 80% | 370k | $7.4M (exactly $7,396,100) | Creepy Jar |
 | The Wandering Village | $29.99 | 7,734 91% | 232k | $7.0M (exactly $6,958,280) | Stray Fawn Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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