Games › Auto Battler › Auto Battler + Tower Defense
Should I ship an Auto Battler Tower Defense?
Auto Battler + Tower Defense
Of 152 developers who shipped an Auto Battler Tower Defense 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.. 209 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×2.2 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $340k, ×727 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 209 games are announced against 103 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $15,588) |
| Top 5% | $345k (exactly $345,370) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 152 |
| Released games | 279 |
| Announced | 209 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 flat on the market, supply 105% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Auto Battler
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Tower Defense
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Auto Battler, Tower Defense; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelite, Roguelike
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 44,964 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 56 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 209 games are announced against 103 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Auto Battler with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Action RTSFair
- + SimulationFair
- + EconomyFair
- + SandboxFair
- + CyberpunkFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + CatsFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + SwordplayFair
Comparable games
Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense 2021 · $9.5M 
Thronefall 2024 · $8.9M 
Bad North: Jotunn Edition 2018 · $5.6M 
The King is Watching 2025 · $4.0M 
Tower Dominion 2025 · $2.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense | older | $24.99 | 12,607 86% | 378k | $9.5M (exactly $9,451,468) | AutoAttack Games |
| | Thronefall | $12.99 | 22,966 96% | 689k | $8.9M (exactly $8,949,850) | GrizzlyGames, Mythwright | |
| | Bad North: Jotunn Edition | older | $14.99 | 12,344 93% | 370k | $5.6M (exactly $5,551,097) | Plausible Concept, Oskar Stålberg |
| | The King is Watching | $14.99 | 9,006 88% | 270k | $4.0M (exactly $4,049,998) | Hypnohead | |
| | Tower Dominion | $17.49 | 5,117 85% | 154k | $2.7M (exactly $2,684,890) | Parallel 45 Games | |
 | Warpips | older | $16.99 | 4,339 87% | 130k | $2.2M (exactly $2,211,588) | Skirmish Mode Games |
 | Heretic's Fork | older | $9.99 | 3,097 85% | 93k | $928k (exactly $928,171) | 9FingerGames |
 | ShapeHero Factory | $23.99 | 991 88% | 30k | $713k (exactly $713,223) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
 | Resist the succubus—The end of the female Knight | older | $16.99 | 1,370 74% | 41k | $698k (exactly $698,289) | BoRoBoRoGame |
 | Knightica | $14.99 | 1,136 74% | 34k | $511k (exactly $510,859) | Mad Mango Games | |
 | Titanium Court | $14.99 | 1,094 94% | 33k | $492k (exactly $491,972) | AP Thomson | |
 | Cubic Cosmos | $12.99 | 941 92% | 28k | $367k (exactly $366,708) | Inkstone Atelier | |
 | Epic Auto Towers | · EA | $14.99 | 768 70% | 23k | $345k (exactly $345,370) | Aleksandr Golovkin |
 | There Are No Orcs | $8.99 | 1,188 93% | 36k | $320k (exactly $320,404) | BaseTrade Studio | |
 | Desktop Defender | $4.99 | 1,757 92% | 53k | $263k (exactly $263,023) | Conradical Games |
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.