Do I ship it?

Games › Action RTS › Action RTS + Artificial Intelligence

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an AI Action RTS?

Action RTS + Artificial Intelligence

Only 16 developers shipped an AI Action RTS 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, Broken Arrow, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 19 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $480, ×0.3 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $59. 19 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper, while revenue is up 7115% on the market.

Deciding numbers: median 0.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 7115% on the market, 19 announced, ×2.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Action RTS + Artificial Intelligence
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 16
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.6k → $599 → $896 → $59 → $179 → $479 (still earning) → $29k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Action RTS + Artificial Intelligence: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 16
Bottom 30% $59 (exactly $59)
Median $479 (exactly $479)
Top 25% $29k (exactly $28,786)
Top 5% $39M (exactly $38,878,223)
Developers, 2 yr 16
Released games 44
Announced 19
Effort 7 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $9.99

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 7115% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 16%, 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.

Action RTS
effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
Artificial Intelligence
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
Systems
Action RTS
Price point
$9.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 55% positive over 26,266 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $59, median $480, 1 in 4 over $28k, 1 in 20 over $38M.

3 in 10 developers made under $59. 9 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 19 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Action RTS with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Auto BattlerFair24 devs · median $3.0k · 28 announced
  2. + FPSLong shot16 devs · median $899 · 21 announced
  3. + PuzzleLong shot16 devs · median $594 · 16 announced
  4. + Turn-Based StrategyPoor odds12 devs · median $85k · 16 announced
  5. + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds9 devs · median $85k · 18 announced
  6. + Real-TimePoor odds12 devs · median $31k · 18 announced
  7. + HistoricalPoor odds26 devs · median $29k · 57 announced
  8. + Online Co-OpPoor odds25 devs · median $18k · 54 announced
  9. + SandboxPoor odds30 devs · median $13k · 50 announced
  10. + Procedural GenerationPoor odds22 devs · median $11k · 51 announced
  11. + Grand StrategyPoor odds25 devs · median $7.5k · 41 announced
  12. + 4XPoor odds10 devs · median $7.2k · 23 announced

All 89 pairs on the Action RTS page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Broken Arrow 2025 · $39M Northend Tower Defense 2024 · $314k Five Nations 2021 · $151k Artificial Extinction 2 2026 · $68k IRON GUARD 2021 · $63k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Broken Arrow $49.99 25,924 55% 778k $39M (exactly $38,878,223) Steel Balalaika
Northend Tower Defense older $7.99 1,309 75% 39k $314k (exactly $313,767) Northend Games
Five Nations older $19.99 251 81% 7.5k $151k (exactly $150,525) SilverForge
Artificial Extinction 2 $19.99 113 77% 3.4k $68k (exactly $67,766) 100Hr Games Inc
IRON GUARD older $14.99 141 95% 4.2k $63k (exactly $63,408) Xlab Digital
Machinefall $14.99 119 82% 3.6k $54k (exactly $53,514) by Jan Zizka
Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon older $14.99 80 82% 2.4k $36k (exactly $35,976) ·
City States: Medieval $19.99 48 68% 1.4k $29k (exactly $28,786) Reverie World Studios
Byte Lynx older $9.99 74 97% 2.2k $22k (exactly $22,178) Artful Games
BlackChain older $4.99 110 84% 3.3k $16k (exactly $16,467) Borington
2089 - Space Divided $17.99 28 75% 840 $15k (exactly $15,112) CoastGames GmbH
Arinoa: Conquest $14.99 16 87% 480 $7.2k (exactly $7,195) Alternate
A Fistful Of Yankees $6.99 10 90% 300 $2.1k (exactly $2,097) Pulsar Creation
PiyoWars $3.99 4 100% 120 $479 (exactly $479) GyuhoGames
BERSERK TANK $4.50 3 66% 90 $405 (exactly $405) WU YU CHENG
War to the Core · EA $9.99 1 100% 30 $300 (exactly $300) Forgotten Mines

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