Games › Action RTS › Action RTS + Crafting
Should I ship a Crafting Action RTS?
Action RTS + Crafting
Only 19 developers shipped a Crafting 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, Tower Factory, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 35 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $7.2k, ×4.8 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $540k, ×366 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 35 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $270 (exactly $270) |
|---|---|
| Median | $7.2k (exactly $7,193) |
| Top 25% | $100k (exactly $99,550) |
| Top 5% | $549k (exactly $548,634) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 44 |
| Announced | 35 |
| 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 down 75% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, 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
- Crafting
- 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, Crafting; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Base Building, Sandbox, Strategy
- Price point
- $14.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.
The top 10 games average 75% positive over 3,127 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $270. 8 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 35 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Medieval Kingdom Wars | older | $14.99 | 2,233 76% | 67k | $1.0M (exactly $1,004,180) | Reverie World Studios |
| | Tower Factory | · EA | $14.99 | 1,220 89% | 37k | $549k (exactly $548,634) | Gius Caminiti |
| | Darfall | $24.99 | 491 71% | 15k | $368k (exactly $368,103) | SquareNite | |
| | Machine Mind | $19.99 | 567 71% | 17k | $340k (exactly $340,030) | Chudo-Yudo Games | |
| | Philna Fantasy | $14.99 | 477 52% | 14k | $215k (exactly $214,507) | Sailike Game | |
| | Kingdom Wars 2: Definitive Edition | older | $9.99 | 348 66% | 10k | $104k (exactly $104,296) | Reverie World Studios |
| | Knights of the Crusades | $19.99 | 166 69% | 5.0k | $100k (exactly $99,550) | Reverie World Studios | |
| | KallaX | older | $9.99 | 278 84% | 8.3k | $83k (exactly $83,317) | Unexpected |
| | The Unexpected Quest | older | $12.99 | 166 77% | 5.0k | $65k (exactly $64,690) | Rionix |
| | Siren's Well | $24.99 | 62 66% | 1.9k | $46k (exactly $46,481) | OneManOnly Studios | |
| | 2089 - Space Divided | $17.99 | 28 75% | 840 | $15k (exactly $15,112) | CoastGames GmbH | |
| | Stoneguard | · EA | $6.99 | 66 75% | 2.0k | $14k (exactly $13,840) | Thorn Spire Games |
| | Stormbridge | $14.99 | 26 80% | 780 | $12k (exactly $11,692) | YYZ Studio | |
| | Tribe Nation | $9.99 | 24 79% | 720 | $7.2k (exactly $7,193) | Random Worlds s.r.o. |
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.