Games › Real-Time with Pause › Real-Time with Pause + Adventure
Should I ship an Adventure Real-Time with Pause game?
Real-Time with Pause + Adventure
Only 10 developers shipped an Adventure Real-Time with Pause game 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, Void War, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 7 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $560k, ×375 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $25k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.1M, ×1462 the market median. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 7 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $25k (exactly $24,762) |
|---|---|
| Median | $561k (exactly $561,319) |
| Top 25% | $1.5M (exactly $1,470,069) |
| Top 5% | $2.2M (exactly $2,190,704) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 10 |
| Released games | 72 |
| Announced | 7 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $19.99 |
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 30% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 4%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Real-Time with Pause
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Adventure
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Real-Time with Pause, Adventure
- Price point
- $19.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 10,058 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $25k. 7 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Real-Time with Pause with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + CombatStrong odds
- + ActionFair
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + ExplorationPoor odds
- + Choices MatterPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + MedievalPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + SurvivalPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Company of Heroes 2 | older | $19.99 | 68,909 80% | 2.1M | $41M (exactly $41,324,727) | Relic Entertainment, Feral Interactive… (Relic Entertainment, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition | older | $29.99 | 28,721 85% | 862k | $26M (exactly $25,840,284) | BioWare |
| | FTL: Faster Than Light | older | $9.99 | 62,763 94% | 1.9M | $19M (exactly $18,810,071) | Subset Games |
| | Pathfinder: Kingmaker — Enhanced Plus Edition | older | $19.99 | 28,146 77% | 844k | $17M (exactly $16,879,156) | Owlcat Games |
| | Pillars of Eternity | older | $29.99 | 16,990 87% | 510k | $15M (exactly $15,285,903) | Obsidian Entertainment |
| | Mass Effect (2007) | older | $29.99 | 14,871 93% | 446k | $13M (exactly $13,379,439) | BioWare |
| | FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE | older | $49.99 | 8,679 88% | 260k | $13M (exactly $13,015,896) | Square Enix |
| | Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition | older | $19.99 | 15,395 92% | 462k | $9.2M (exactly $9,232,382) | Beamdog |
| | Tyranny | older | $29.99 | 9,877 87% | 296k | $8.9M (exactly $8,886,337) | Obsidian Entertainment |
| | Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire | older | $19.99 | 14,659 87% | 440k | $8.8M (exactly $8,791,002) | Obsidian Entertainment |
| | Void War | $19.99 | 3,653 94% | 110k | $2.2M (exactly $2,190,704) | Tundra | |
| | GreedFall: The Dying World | $49.99 | 1,027 61% | 31k | $1.5M (exactly $1,540,192) | Spiders | |
| | House of Legacy | · EA | $14.99 | 3,269 84% | 98k | $1.5M (exactly $1,470,069) | S3 Studio |
| | Airborne Empire | $29.99 | 852 86% | 26k | $767k (exactly $766,544) | The Wandering Band LLC | |
| | Banquet for Fools | $19.99 | 936 89% | 28k | $561k (exactly $561,319) | Hannah and Joseph Games | |
| | Elengard: Ascension | · EA | $24.99 | 116 77% | 3.5k | $87k (exactly $86,965) | Stèphano M. M. G. |
| | Dread Admiral | $13.99 | 59 89% | 1.8k | $25k (exactly $24,762) | Tescrin Games | |
| | Geo Mythica | $14.99 | 50 100% | 1.5k | $22k (exactly $22,485) | Guin Entertainment, LLC | |
| | Deadlock Station | $9.99 | 55 80% | 1.7k | $16k (exactly $16,484) | Luxorix Games | |
| | Reclaim The Sea | $11.99 | 41 75% | 1.2k | $15k (exactly $14,748) | 1LastGame |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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