Games › Tactical › Tactical + Aliens
Should I ship an Alien Tactical game?
Tactical + Aliens
Of 70 developers who shipped an Alien Tactical game 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.. 100 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, ×2.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $510k, ×825 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 100 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,438) |
| Top 25% | $24k (exactly $23,740) |
| Top 5% | $518k (exactly $518,043) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 70 |
| Released games | 226 |
| Announced | 100 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 45% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Turn-Based Strategy, Turn-Based Tactics
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 14,429 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 8 in 10 of the 39 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 100 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + Farming SimFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
Comparable games
STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II 2020 · $105M 
Aliens: Dark Descent 2023 · $18M 
XCOM: Enemy Unknown 2012 · $18M 
Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ 2014 · $17M 
Crysis Remastered 2021 · $15M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II | older | $39.99 | 87,494 88% | 2.6M | $105M (exactly $104,966,552) | DICE |
| | Aliens: Dark Descent | older | $39.99 | 15,310 87% | 459k | $18M (exactly $18,367,407) | Tindalos Interactive |
| | XCOM: Enemy Unknown | older | $14.99 | 40,345 93% | 1.2M | $18M (exactly $18,143,146) | Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Linux) |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ | older | $39.99 | 14,047 61% | 421k | $17M (exactly $16,852,186) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | Crysis Remastered | older | $29.99 | 16,822 77% | 505k | $15M (exactly $15,134,753) | Crytek |
 | Starship Troopers: Terran Command | older | $29.99 | 9,214 87% | 276k | $8.3M (exactly $8,289,836) | The Artistocrats |
 | Crysis 2 Remastered | older | $29.99 | 9,034 89% | 271k | $8.1M (exactly $8,127,890) | Crytek, Saber Interactive |
 | STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection | older | $35.01 | 7,125 23% | 214k | $7.5M (exactly $7,483,388) | Aspyr |
 | XCOM®: Chimera Squad | older | $9.99 | 20,602 71% | 618k | $6.2M (exactly $6,174,419) | Firaxis Games |
 | Halo Wars: Definitive Edition | older | $19.99 | 8,627 92% | 259k | $5.2M (exactly $5,173,612) | Ensemble Studios, Behaviour Interactive… (Ensemble Studios, Behaviour Interactive, 343 Industries) |
 | Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | $34.99 | 4,162 79% | 125k | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) | Gamexcite | |
 | Tower Dominion | $17.49 | 5,117 85% | 154k | $2.7M (exactly $2,684,890) | Parallel 45 Games | |
 | Level Zero: Extraction | $19.99 | 2,446 50% | 73k | $1.5M (exactly $1,466,866) | Doghowl Games | |
 | Exogate Initiative | $24.99 | 691 75% | 21k | $518k (exactly $518,043) | Xeno Bits | |
 | Down with the Ship | · EA | $14.99 | 817 93% | 25k | $367k (exactly $367,405) | Iron Anchor Games |
 | Every Day We Fight | · EA | $29.99 | 385 72% | 12k | $346k (exactly $346,384) | Signal Space Lab |
 | Xenopurge | $12.49 | 419 84% | 13k | $157k (exactly $156,999) | Traptics | |
 | R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos | $49.99 | 94 82% | 2.8k | $141k (exactly $140,972) | Granzella Inc. | |
 | Dead in Antares | $19.99 | 189 77% | 5.7k | $113k (exactly $113,343) | Ishtar Games | |
 | SONOKUNI | $14.99 | 109 98% | 3.3k | $49k (exactly $49,017) | DON YASA CREW |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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