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Should I ship an Action Roguelike Tactical game?
Tactical + Action Roguelike
Of 134 developers who shipped an Action Roguelike Tactical 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.. 241 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $540, ×0.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×247 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 241 games are announced against 83 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $538 (exactly $538) |
| Top 25% | $3.1k (exactly $3,116) |
| Top 5% | $155k (exactly $155,322) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 134 |
| Released games | 276 |
| Announced | 241 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 65% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tactical
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Action Roguelike
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical, Action Roguelike; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelite, Roguelike
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, Pixel Graphics, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 7,397 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 61 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 241 games are announced against 83 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + Farming SimFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
Comparable games
HighFleet 2021 · $6.3M 
SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising 2018 · $6.1M 
Bad North: Jotunn Edition 2018 · $5.6M 
Crime Boss: Rockay City 2024 · $5.1M 
Heat Signature 2017 · $3.1M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | HighFleet | older | $29.99 | 7,024 88% | 211k | $6.3M (exactly $6,319,493) | Konstantin Koshutin |
| | SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising | older | $19.99 | 10,111 94% | 303k | $6.1M (exactly $6,063,567) | Flow Fire Games |
| | Bad North: Jotunn Edition | older | $14.99 | 12,344 93% | 370k | $5.6M (exactly $5,551,097) | Plausible Concept, Oskar Stålberg |
| | Crime Boss: Rockay City | older | $19.99 | 8,553 68% | 257k | $5.1M (exactly $5,129,234) | INGAME STUDIOS |
| | Heat Signature | older | $14.99 | 6,849 94% | 205k | $3.1M (exactly $3,079,995) | Suspicious Developments |
 | SYNTHETIK 2 | · EA older | $19.99 | 3,202 81% | 96k | $1.9M (exactly $1,920,239) | Flow Fire Games |
 | Shortest Trip to Earth | older | $25.99 | 1,257 76% | 38k | $980k (exactly $980,083) | Interactive Fate |
 | Anomaly President | · EA | $14.99 | 1,376 91% | 41k | $619k (exactly $618,787) | Phew Phew Games |
 | Whisper Mountain Outbreak | · EA | $7.99 | 2,421 84% | 73k | $580k (exactly $580,314) | Toge Productions |
 | Rogue Point | $19.99 | 940 63% | 28k | $564k (exactly $563,718) | Crowbar Collective | |
 | Seer's Gambit | $14.99 | 490 76% | 15k | $220k (exactly $220,353) | Unleash The Giraffe | |
 | Enter the Chronosphere | · EA | $14.99 | 420 94% | 13k | $189k (exactly $188,874) | Effort Star |
 | Metal Thunder | · EA | $10.99 | 567 76% | 17k | $187k (exactly $186,940) | Dumbbell Games |
 | Bendy: Lone Wolf | $19.99 | 259 77% | 7.8k | $155k (exactly $155,322) | Joey Drew Studios | |
 | Pebble Knights | · EA | $9.99 | 479 76% | 14k | $144k (exactly $143,556) | 51% Games |
 | Wartorn | $34.99 | 130 73% | 3.9k | $136k (exactly $136,461) | Stray Kite Studios | |
 | Maze Mice | $9.99 | 315 88% | 9.5k | $94k (exactly $94,406) | TrampolineTales |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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