Do I ship it?

Games4X4X + Tactical RPG

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Tactical RPG 4X?

4X + Tactical RPG

Only 9 developers shipped a Tactical RPG 4X in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Huaxia: Warring States, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced, ×6.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 7 / 10 build.

Only 4 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $9.9k against a market of $1.5k. 24 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 6.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 90% on the market, 24 announced, ×6.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
4X + Tactical RPG
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 9

not enough cohorts to draw

Outcomes for 4X + Tactical RPG: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 9
Bottom 30% $1.0k (exactly $1,048)
Median $9.9k (exactly $9,893)
Top 25% $100k (exactly $99,697)
Top 5% $420k (exactly $420,390)
Developers, 2 yr 9
Released games 37
Announced 24
Effort 7 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $11.99

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 90% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

4X
effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
Tactical RPG
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
Systems
4X, Tactical RPG
Price point
$11.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.

The top 25% priced at $59.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 156,088 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $1.1k, median $9.9k, 1 in 4 over $99k, 1 in 20 over $420k.

3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 7 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 4 developers who shipped in the last year, ×6.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

4X with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + CombatFair32 devs · median $3.8k · 48 announced
  2. + Colony SimPoor odds23 devs · median $314k · 77 announced
  3. + Turn-BasedPoor odds16 devs · median $193k · 26 announced
  4. + SandboxPoor odds36 devs · median $193k · 76 announced
  5. + DiplomacyPoor odds29 devs · median $86k · 79 announced
  6. + SurvivalPoor odds21 devs · median $72k · 40 announced
  7. + HistoricalPoor odds49 devs · median $61k · 75 announced
  8. + Alternate HistoryPoor odds21 devs · median $61k · 36 announced
  9. + RPGPoor odds26 devs · median $54k · 56 announced
  10. + BuildingPoor odds52 devs · median $34k · 112 announced
  11. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds8 devs · median $34k · 21 announced
  12. + Strategy RPGPoor odds15 devs · median $31k · 33 announced

All 63 pairs on the 4X page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Total War: WARHAMMER II older $59.99 85,134 92% 2.6M $153M (exactly $153,215,660) CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (M… (CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux))
Total War: WARHAMMER older $59.99 32,105 79% 963k $58M (exactly $57,779,368) CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (L… (CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive (Linux), Feral Interactive (Mac))
Age of Wonders 4 older $49.99 16,899 82% 507k $25M (exactly $25,343,430) Triumph Studios
Songs of Conquest older $29.99 12,127 85% 364k $11M (exactly $10,910,662) Lavapotion
Starpoint Gemini Warlords older $34.99 3,076 72% 92k $3.2M (exactly $3,228,877) Little Green Men Games
Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes older $24.99 1,655 78% 50k $1.2M (exactly $1,240,754) Stardock Entertainment
Master of Magic older $39.99 1,023 71% 31k $1.2M (exactly $1,227,293) MuHa Games, Eerie Forest Studio
Eador. Masters of the Broken World older $19.99 1,660 67% 50k $996k (exactly $995,502) Snowbird Games
Ancient Warfare: The Han Dynasty · EA older $16.99 1,708 69% 51k $871k (exactly $870,568) 不秋草游戏工作室(Bamboo Games)
Huaxia: Warring States · EA $19.99 701 61% 21k $420k (exactly $420,390) 秦川汉渚
Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown $27.99 374 54% 11k $314k (exactly $314,048) Zugalu Entertainment
Pennon and Battle $18.99 175 69% 5.3k $100k (exactly $99,697) PB Studio
Hyper Empire $11.99 46 78% 1.4k $17k (exactly $16,546) Fair Weather Studios
Master of Luna · EA $14.99 22 95% 660 $9.9k (exactly $9,893) Aleksandr Tiupin
Defense Legend 5: Survivor TD $9.99 4 75% 120 $1.2k (exactly $1,199) Gcenter Game
Dwarf Guild Mania $6.99 5 80% 150 $1.0k (exactly $1,048) Quarkblue
Dynastic Era $1.99 1 100% 30 $60 (exactly $60) LOONW
WarBoard: Arena Empire $0.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Velron Games

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