Games › Action RTS › Action RTS + Female Protagonist
Should I ship a Female-Led Action RTS?
Action RTS + Female Protagonist
Only 15 developers shipped a Female-Led 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, Antivirus Girl, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 22 more are announced, ×4.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, level with the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $40k, ×27 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 22 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $594 (exactly $594) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,599) |
| Top 5% | $41k (exactly $40,509) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 34 |
| Announced | 22 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 60% on the market, supply 50% fewer 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
- Female Protagonist
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Action RTS
- Price point
- $7.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 264 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. All of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 22 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action RTS with a different setting or mood, 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
Waifu Fighter 2022 · $642k 
Touhou Monster TD ~ 幻想乡妖怪塔防 2021 · $540k 
Stargate: Timekeepers 2024 · $178k 
Smelter 2021 · $99k 
Timemelters 2024 · $91k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Waifu Fighter | older | $7.99 | 2,677 86% | 80k | $642k (exactly $641,677) | Happy Monster Studio |
| | Touhou Monster TD ~ 幻想乡妖怪塔防 | older | $18.99 | 948 90% | 28k | $540k (exactly $540,076) | MyACG Studio |
| | Stargate: Timekeepers | older | $29.99 | 198 60% | 5.9k | $178k (exactly $178,141) | Slitherine Ltd. |
| | Smelter | older | $19.99 | 165 64% | 5.0k | $99k (exactly $98,950) | X PLUS Co., Ltd. |
| | Timemelters | older | $19.99 | 152 92% | 4.6k | $91k (exactly $91,154) | Autoexec Games |
 | Antivirus Girl | $7.99 | 169 88% | 5.1k | $41k (exactly $40,509) | Chowbie | |
 | erozld | older | $14.99 | 61 50% | 1.8k | $27k (exactly $27,432) | 88Danuki |
 | Bullet: Surge | $15.99 | 18 94% | 540 | $8.6k (exactly $8,635) | Cerbere Games | |
 | Foresia -The Lust Curse- | $14.99 | 15 33% | 450 | $6.7k (exactly $6,746) | BlusterD | |
 | Paintings Thief | older | $5.99 | 33 33% | 990 | $5.9k (exactly $5,930) | madsug |
 | Cats Away | $29.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $3.6k (exactly $3,599) | Studio Saizensen | |
 | Goddess Scroll - The Last Starlight | $9.99 | 11 27% | 330 | $3.3k (exactly $3,297) | Revenge Red Eyes | |
 | Notice Me Leena-senpai! | $7.99 | 11 81% | 330 | $2.6k (exactly $2,637) | Yanako RPGs, GameDevTosh | |
 | REBELLION PRINCESS｜リベリオン プリンセス | $5.99 | 11 81% | 330 | $2.0k (exactly $1,977) | テイク | |
 | Witch Way | $2.99 | 16 81% | 480 | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) | e-sheep | |
 | 我的修仙世界My Xiuxian World | $16.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $1.0k (exactly $1,019) | CUI PU XING | |
 | Street grabbing of territory | $2.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $628 (exactly $628) | Southern Vermilion Bird |
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.