Games › Real-Time with Pause › Real-Time with Pause + Action
Should I ship an Action Real-Time with Pause game?
Real-Time with Pause + Action
Only 16 developers shipped an Action Real-Time with Pause game 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, Door Kickers 2: Task Force North, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 18 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $100k, ×69 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $23k. Revenue is up 1385% on the market; 18 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $22k (exactly $22,485) |
|---|---|
| Median | $103k (exactly $103,431) |
| Top 25% | $825k (exactly $825,187) |
| Top 5% | $9.2M (exactly $9,239,303) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 109 |
| Announced | 18 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $14.99 |
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 1385% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 3%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Real-Time with Pause
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Action
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Real-Time with Pause, Action; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action RPG, Action RTS, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $14.99 typical · top 25% priced $49.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $49.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 18,581 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $23k. 5 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 18 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Real-Time with Pause with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + CombatStrong odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + AdventurePoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + ExplorationPoor odds
- + Choices MatterPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + MedievalPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + SurvivalPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
Comparable games
Hearts of Iron IV 2016 · $412M 
Cities: Skylines 2015 · $198M 
Company of Heroes 2 2013 · $41M 
Mass Effect (2007) 2008 · $13M 
FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE 2018 · $13M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hearts of Iron IV | older | $49.99 | 274,901 90% | 8.2M | $412M (exactly $412,269,030) | Paradox Development Studio |
| | Cities: Skylines | older | $29.99 | 220,465 92% | 6.6M | $198M (exactly $198,352,360) | Colossal Order |
| | Company of Heroes 2 | older | $19.99 | 68,909 80% | 2.1M | $41M (exactly $41,324,727) | Relic Entertainment, Feral Interactive… (Relic Entertainment, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | Mass Effect (2007) | older | $29.99 | 14,871 93% | 446k | $13M (exactly $13,379,439) | BioWare |
| | FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE | older | $49.99 | 8,679 88% | 260k | $13M (exactly $13,015,896) | Square Enix |
 | Door Kickers 2: Task Force North | $24.99 | 12,324 96% | 370k | $9.2M (exactly $9,239,303) | KillHouse Games | |
 | Tyranny | older | $29.99 | 9,877 87% | 296k | $8.9M (exactly $8,886,337) | Obsidian Entertainment |
 | STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™ | older | $9.99 | 28,518 90% | 856k | $8.5M (exactly $8,546,845) | BioWare, Aspyr (Mac) |
 | Cossacks 3 | older | $19.99 | 12,406 82% | 372k | $7.4M (exactly $7,439,878) | GSC Game World |
 | STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™ II - The Sith Lords™ | older | $9.99 | 22,357 93% | 671k | $6.7M (exactly $6,700,393) | Obsidian Entertainment, Aspyr (Mac, Lin… (Obsidian Entertainment, Aspyr (Mac, Linux, & Windows Update)) |
 | GreedFall: The Dying World | $49.99 | 1,027 61% | 31k | $1.5M (exactly $1,540,192) | Spiders | |
 | Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand | $29.99 | 1,015 49% | 30k | $913k (exactly $913,196) | Relic Entertainment | |
 | Wicked Seed | $19.99 | 1,376 94% | 41k | $825k (exactly $825,187) | Dead Right Games | |
 | Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes | $24.99 | 1,039 76% | 31k | $779k (exactly $778,938) | Alt Shift | |
 | Banquet for Fools | $19.99 | 936 89% | 28k | $561k (exactly $561,319) | Hannah and Joseph Games | |
 | Rift Riff | $12.99 | 367 94% | 11k | $143k (exactly $143,020) | Adriaan de Jongh, Sim Kaart, Matthijs K… (Adriaan de Jongh, Sim Kaart, Matthijs Koster, Franz LaZerte, Professional Panda) | |
 | Welcome Back, Commander | $14.99 | 230 80% | 6.9k | $103k (exactly $103,431) | S.C. 16 BIT NIGHTS S.R.L. | |
 | Elengard: Ascension | · EA | $24.99 | 116 77% | 3.5k | $87k (exactly $86,965) | Stèphano M. M. G. |
 | Riot Operator | $14.99 | 151 25% | 4.5k | $68k (exactly $67,905) | Beta 2 Games |
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.