Games › Action RTS › Action RTS + Base Building
Should I ship a Base Building Action RTS?
Action RTS + Base Building
Of 118 developers who shipped a Base Building Action RTS 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.. 228 more are announced, ×3.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.8k, ×3.2 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $660; 1 in 20 cleared $1.4M, ×946 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 228 games are announced against 60 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $659 (exactly $659) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.8k (exactly $4,790) |
| Top 25% | $41k (exactly $41,228) |
| Top 5% | $1.4M (exactly $1,417,028) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 118 |
| Released games | 245 |
| Announced | 228 |
| 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 flat on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Base Building
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Action RTS, Base Building; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, RTS, Building
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $27.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Isometric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $27.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 71,563 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $660. 7 in 10 of the 62 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 228 games are announced against 60 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action RTS with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + FPSLong shot
- + PuzzleLong shot
- + Turn-Based StrategyPoor odds
- + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Procedural GenerationPoor odds
- + Grand StrategyPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
Comparable games
Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition 2021 · $87M 
Age of Mythology: Retold 2024 · $19M 
Tempest Rising 2025 · $12M 
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition 2025 · $11M 
Diplomacy is Not an Option 2024 · $9.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition | older | $39.99 | 72,275 85% | 2.2M | $87M (exactly $86,708,318) | World's Edge, Relic Entertainment, Forg… (World's Edge, Relic Entertainment, Forgotten Empires, Climax Studios) |
| | Age of Mythology: Retold | older | $29.99 | 20,943 90% | 628k | $19M (exactly $18,842,417) | World's Edge, Forgotten Empires, Tantal… (World's Edge, Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, CaptureAge, Virtuos Games) |
| | Tempest Rising | $39.99 | 9,811 87% | 294k | $12M (exactly $11,770,257) | Slipgate Ironworks™ | |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition | $29.99 | 12,286 85% | 369k | $11M (exactly $11,053,714) | Relic Entertainment | |
| | Diplomacy is Not an Option | $29.99 | 10,904 85% | 327k | $9.8M (exactly $9,810,329) | Door 407 | |
 | Thronefall | $12.99 | 22,966 96% | 689k | $8.9M (exactly $8,949,850) | GrizzlyGames, Mythwright | |
 | Age of Darkness: Final Stand | $27.99 | 9,486 74% | 285k | $8.0M (exactly $7,965,394) | PlaySide | |
 | Cossacks 3 | older | $19.99 | 12,406 82% | 372k | $7.4M (exactly $7,439,878) | GSC Game World |
 | Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™ | older | $6.96 | 8,777 89% | 263k | $1.8M (exactly $1,832,638) | EA Los Angeles |
 | ERA ONE | · EA | $29.99 | 1,575 86% | 47k | $1.4M (exactly $1,417,028) | Team Complex LTD |
 | ZeroSpace | · EA | $39.99 | 1,161 78% | 35k | $1.4M (exactly $1,392,852) | Starlance Studios, Ironward |
 | The Scouring | · EA | $24.99 | 1,136 88% | 34k | $852k (exactly $851,659) | Orc Group |
 | Rogue Command | $19.99 | 1,018 89% | 31k | $610k (exactly $610,495) | feneq | |
 | Tower Factory | · EA | $14.99 | 1,220 89% | 37k | $549k (exactly $548,634) | Gius Caminiti |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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