Do I ship it?

Games › Action RTS › Action RTS + Roguelike

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Roguelike Action RTS?

Action RTS + Roguelike

Of 36 developers who shipped a Roguelike 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.. 56 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $1.7k, ×1.1 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $540k, ×366 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 56 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue down 75% on the market, 56 announced, ×2.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Action RTS + Roguelike
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 36
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $299 → $3.0k → $6.1k → $1.9k → $5.3k → $239 → $9.6k (still earning) → $449 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Action RTS + Roguelike: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 36
Bottom 30% $239 (exactly $239)
Median $1.7k (exactly $1,678)
Top 25% $36k (exactly $35,600)
Top 5% $549k (exactly $548,634)
Developers, 2 yr 36
Released games 70
Announced 56
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 75% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, 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
Roguelike
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, Roguelike; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RTS, Strategy, Base Building
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 4,068 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $1.7k, 1 in 4 over $35k, 1 in 20 over $540k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Action RTS with a different second tag, 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

The Lost Village 2024 · $987k Rogue Command 2026 · $610k Tower Factory 2024 · EA · $549k Touhou Monster TD ~ 幻想乡妖怪塔防 2021 · $540k Fate Seeker: Journey 2022 · $332k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
The Lost Village older $11.99 2,743 70% 82k $987k (exactly $986,657) FunYoo Games
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
Touhou Monster TD ~ 幻想乡妖怪塔防 older $18.99 948 90% 28k $540k (exactly $540,076) MyACG Studio
Fate Seeker: Journey older $10.00 1,105 77% 33k $332k (exactly $331,500) JSL Entertainment
Here Comes The Swarm · EA $19.99 358 84% 11k $215k (exactly $214,693) CableHook Games
Warlords Under Siege $9.99 436 77% 13k $131k (exactly $130,669) RedKar Devs
Circle Empires 2 $12.99 266 72% 8.0k $104k (exactly $103,660) Luminous
Forest Heroes $9.99 278 83% 8.3k $83k (exactly $83,317) Hoochoo Game Studios
Repterra $19.99 122 90% 3.7k $73k (exactly $73,163) Chute Apps
Red Rocket Defencism $7.99 172 98% 5.2k $41k (exactly $41,228) tiny cactus studio
Deep Among the Swarm $8.99 132 85% 4.0k $36k (exactly $35,600) Pebble Mountain Games
Last Outpost $7.99 66 72% 2.0k $16k (exactly $15,820) Troyd Games

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