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Should I ship a Military Arcade game?
Arcade + Military
Of 121 developers who shipped a Military Arcade 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.. 163 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $78k, ×126 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 163 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $3.1k (exactly $3,116) |
| Top 5% | $79k (exactly $78,821) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 121 |
| Released games | 420 |
| Announced | 163 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.00 |
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 25% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Arcade; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Shoot 'Em Up
- Price point
- $5.00 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 2D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $5.00.
The top 10 games average 76% positive over 2,977 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 62 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 163 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Arcade with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + TrainsFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + MiningFair
- + FaithFair
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + EconomyFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + DeckbuildingFair
- + Card BattlerFair
- + LootFair
- + VampiresFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ACE COMBAT™ 7: SKIES UNKNOWN | older | $59.99 | 46,235 87% | 1.4M | $83M (exactly $83,209,130) | Bandai Namco Studios Inc. |
| | Project Wingman | older | $24.99 | 18,407 94% | 552k | $14M (exactly $13,799,728) | Sector D2 |
| | EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 6 | older | $59.99 | 6,225 69% | 187k | $11M (exactly $11,203,132) | SANDLOT |
| | Nuclear Option | · EA older | $19.99 | 10,275 95% | 308k | $6.2M (exactly $6,161,917) | Shockfront Studios |
| | I Am Your Beast | older | $19.99 | 5,275 97% | 158k | $3.2M (exactly $3,163,417) | Strange Scaffold |
| | Heliborne Collection | older | $29.99 | 3,255 76% | 98k | $2.9M (exactly $2,928,524) | Klabater |
| | LEFT ALIVE™ | older | $59.99 | 622 31% | 19k | $1.1M (exactly $1,119,413) | Square Enix |
| | War Dust VR: 32v32 Battlefields | older | $24.99 | 1,489 80% | 45k | $1.1M (exactly $1,116,303) | raptor lab |
| | Vox Machinae | older | $29.99 | 1,177 87% | 35k | $1.1M (exactly $1,058,947) | Space Bullet Dynamics Corporation |
| | Military Conflict: Vietnam | · EA older | $14.99 | 2,035 91% | 61k | $915k (exactly $915,140) | Dustfade |
| | Nitro Express | $12.99 | 1,069 75% | 32k | $417k (exactly $416,589) | Grayfax Software | |
| | G-Rebels | · EA | $29.99 | 254 79% | 7.6k | $229k (exactly $228,524) | Reakktor Studios |
| | Metal Thunder | · EA | $10.99 | 567 76% | 17k | $187k (exactly $186,940) | Dumbbell Games |
| | MUSYNX:RETURN | $19.99 | 284 74% | 8.5k | $170k (exactly $170,315) | I-Inferno | |
| | Wild Blue Skies | $14.99 | 251 58% | 7.5k | $113k (exactly $112,875) | Chuhai Labs, VITEI BACKROOM Inc. | |
| | SONIC WINGS REUNION | $59.99 | 46 60% | 1.4k | $83k (exactly $82,786) | SUCCESS Corp. | |
| | TOP DOG | $9.99 | 263 88% | 7.9k | $79k (exactly $78,821) | MorfeoDev | |
| | Vincemus - Air Combat | $14.99 | 114 82% | 3.4k | $51k (exactly $51,266) | Virtual Convict | |
| | UNDER DEFEAT | $19.99 | 81 95% | 2.4k | $49k (exactly $48,576) | CITY CONNECTION, TAKE×0FF | |
| | Operation Night Strikers | $24.99 | 48 77% | 1.4k | $36k (exactly $35,986) | M2 Co., Ltd. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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