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Should I ship an Arcade Tactical RPG?
Tactical RPG + Arcade
Only 19 developers shipped an Arcade Tactical RPG 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, Dwarven Realms, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 31 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $780, ×1.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $850k, ×1360 the market median. Revenue is up 590% on the market; 31 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $779 (exactly $779) |
| Top 25% | $8.8k (exactly $8,807) |
| Top 5% | $854k (exactly $854,145) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 60 |
| Announced | 31 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 up 590% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tactical RPG
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Arcade
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Tactical RPG, Arcade; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Roguelike, Strategy
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 3,327 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 31 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + Space SimFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
Punch Club 2: Fast Forward 2023 · $2.3M 
Dwarven Realms 2024 · $854k 
Darwinia 2005 · $281k 
Cyber Tower 2048 2025 · $83k 
Anima: Gate of Memories - The Nameless Chronicles 2018 · $74k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Punch Club 2: Fast Forward | older | $19.99 | 3,808 81% | 114k | $2.3M (exactly $2,283,658) | Lazy Bear Games |
| | Dwarven Realms | $9.99 | 2,850 81% | 86k | $854k (exactly $854,145) | Crater Studios | |
| | Darwinia | older | $11.99 | 781 78% | 23k | $281k (exactly $280,926) | Introversion Software |
| | Cyber Tower 2048 | $29.99 | 92 88% | 2.8k | $83k (exactly $82,772) | Galactic Geckon | |
| | Anima: Gate of Memories - The Nameless Chronicles | older | $19.99 | 123 80% | 3.7k | $74k (exactly $73,763) | Anima Project |
 | Swords and Sandals 3 Redux | $9.99 | 233 87% | 7.0k | $70k (exactly $69,830) | Whiskeybarrel Studios | |
 | Dungeon Deathball | older | $11.99 | 193 95% | 5.8k | $69k (exactly $69,422) | Matt Glanville |
 | Treachery in Beatdown City | older | $19.99 | 72 76% | 2.2k | $43k (exactly $43,178) | NuChallenger, HurakanWorks |
 | Social Justice Warriors | older | $7.99 | 100 50% | 3.0k | $24k (exactly $23,970) | Nonadecimal Creative |
 | Police Response VR : Disturbance | older | $4.99 | 93 88% | 2.8k | $14k (exactly $13,922) | Caltain VR Ltd |
 | Soulbound Roguelike | $9.99 | 34 82% | 1.0k | $10k (exactly $10,190) | DuDu Games | |
 | Punch to Glory | $6.99 | 42 92% | 1.3k | $8.8k (exactly $8,807) | Musa GUNGOR | |
 | Sunstone War | $4.99 | 34 97% | 1.0k | $5.1k (exactly $5,090) | Blukulélé, Cyrolis Dev | |
 | PipeFlow | $9.99 | 16 75% | 480 | $4.8k (exactly $4,795) | Sharkgame | |
 | Haunted ROM: The Lost Cartridge | $9.99 | 14 85% | 420 | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) | Crit42 Studio | |
 | Frog Adventure | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | Gamesforgames | |
 | Timber Wars | $12.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $779 (exactly $779) | Priyam Jain |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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