Games › Destruction › Destruction + Alternate History
Should I ship an Alternate-History Destruction game?
Destruction + Alternate History
Only 6 developers shipped an Alternate-History Destruction 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, Deliver At All Costs, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 30 more are announced, ×15 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
Only 2 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $5.8k against a market of $630. 30 games are announced.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.8k (exactly $5,846) |
| Top 25% | $6.9k (exactly $6,920) |
| Top 5% | $288k (exactly $287,904) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 6 |
| Released games | 32 |
| Announced | 30 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 50% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 28%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Destruction
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Alternate History
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Destruction
- Price point
- $11.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 14,333 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 2 developers who shipped in the last year, ×15 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Destruction with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Space SimFair
- + ModernFair
- + God GameFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Hack and SlashPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CapitalismPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Automobile SimPoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
Gunner, HEAT, PC! 2022 · EA · $6.8M 
Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance 2024 · $4.1M 
Silent Storm Gold Edition 2013 · $289k 
Deliver At All Costs 2025 · $288k 
IS Defense 2016 · $263k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Gunner, HEAT, PC! | · EA older | $29.99 | 7,603 91% | 228k | $6.8M (exactly $6,840,419) | Radian Simulations LLC |
| | Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance | older | $39.99 | 3,395 82% | 102k | $4.1M (exactly $4,072,982) | Slitherine Ltd. |
| | Silent Storm Gold Edition | older | $9.99 | 963 88% | 29k | $289k (exactly $288,611) | Nival |
| | Deliver At All Costs | $29.99 | 320 73% | 9.6k | $288k (exactly $287,904) | Studio Far Out Games | |
| | IS Defense | older | $5.99 | 1,465 91% | 44k | $263k (exactly $263,260) | Destructive Creations |
 | Aggressor | · EA older | $19.99 | 172 61% | 5.2k | $103k (exactly $103,148) | Flashpoint Studios |
 | Aircraft Evolution | older | $8.99 | 221 80% | 6.6k | $60k (exactly $59,604) | Satur Entertainment |
 | Diving Disorder-下潜症 | older | $2.99 | 125 92% | 3.8k | $11k (exactly $11,212) | Lingtan Studio |
 | Kamikaze Veggies | older | $9.99 | 34 88% | 1.0k | $10k (exactly $10,190) | Red Limb Studio |
 | Konkwest | older | $8.99 | 35 94% | 1.1k | $9.4k (exactly $9,440) | Vincent Creative Technologies |
 | Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins Enhanced | $6.99 | 33 75% | 990 | $6.9k (exactly $6,920) | KDV Games | |
 | War of Wheels | · EA | $14.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $5.8k (exactly $5,846) | Dreambits Studio |
 | Lobsterpunk | $9.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) | Carter Diaz de Leon | |
 | Grand Throw Auto | $4.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | Andrew Grbac | |
 | Heroes of Higher Realms | $11.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | DreamMasters Studio |
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.