Games › Action RTS › Action RTS + Colony Sim
Should I ship a Colony Sim Action RTS?
Action RTS + Colony Sim
Of 23 developers who shipped a Colony Sim 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.. 42 more are announced, ×3.2 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 $360k, ×246 the market median. Revenue is up 305% on the market; 42 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $659 (exactly $659) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.8k (exactly $4,790) |
| Top 25% | $62k (exactly $62,338) |
| Top 5% | $368k (exactly $368,103) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 51 |
| Announced | 42 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $10.99 |
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 305% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, 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
- Colony Sim
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Action RTS, Colony Sim; all of the top 25% also carry Base Building, RTS, Resource Management
- Price point
- $10.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Isometric, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $10.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 12,933 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $660. 6 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 42 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Diplomacy is Not an Option | $29.99 | 10,904 85% | 327k | $9.8M (exactly $9,810,329) | Door 407 | |
| | 下一站江湖Ⅱ | older | $24.99 | 8,507 72% | 255k | $6.4M (exactly $6,377,698) | 白玉京工作室 |
| | Gord | older | $49.99 | 809 53% | 24k | $1.2M (exactly $1,213,257) | Covenant.dev |
| | Kingdom Eighties | older | $11.99 | 3,001 75% | 90k | $1.1M (exactly $1,079,460) | Fury Studios |
| | The Lost Village | older | $11.99 | 2,743 70% | 82k | $987k (exactly $986,657) | FunYoo Games |
| | From Glory To Goo | · EA older | $11.99 | 1,794 96% | 54k | $645k (exactly $645,302) | Stratagem Blue |
| | Bee Island | older | $9.99 | 1,612 86% | 48k | $483k (exactly $483,116) | Lemma Arts |
| | Darfall | $24.99 | 491 71% | 15k | $368k (exactly $368,103) | SquareNite | |
| | Calyx | · EA | $24.99 | 471 88% | 14k | $353k (exactly $353,109) | Studio 568 |
| | Here Comes The Swarm | · EA | $19.99 | 358 84% | 11k | $215k (exactly $214,693) | CableHook Games |
| | Repterra | $19.99 | 122 90% | 3.7k | $73k (exactly $73,163) | Chute Apps | |
| | Final Outpost: Definitive Edition | $9.99 | 208 76% | 6.2k | $62k (exactly $62,338) | Exabyte Games | |
| | Colonize | $9.99 | 192 39% | 5.8k | $58k (exactly $57,542) | Rembrosoft | |
| | Machinefall | $14.99 | 119 82% | 3.6k | $54k (exactly $53,514) | by Jan Zizka | |
| | Scarecropia | $9.99 | 42 88% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $12,587) | JYP Studio | |
| | Stormbridge | $14.99 | 26 80% | 780 | $12k (exactly $11,692) | YYZ Studio |
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.