Do I ship it?

Games › Party-Based RPG › Party-Based RPG + Base Building

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Base Building Party-Based RPG?

Party-Based RPG + Base Building

Only 19 developers shipped a Base Building Party-Based 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, Dungeon Settlers, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 51 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $19k, ×31 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $9.6k; 1 in 20 cleared $830k, ×1333 the market median. Revenue is up 635% on the market; 51 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 30.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 635% on the market, 51 announced, ×4.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Party-Based RPG + Base Building
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 19
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $299 → $409k → $1.0k → $11k → $336k (still earning) → $32k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Party-Based RPG + Base Building: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 19
Bottom 30% $9.6k (exactly $9,576)
Median $19k (exactly $19,190)
Top 25% $219k (exactly $219,118)
Top 5% $837k (exactly $837,415)
Developers, 2 yr 19
Released games 53
Announced 51
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $14.99

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 635% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Party-Based RPG
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Base Building
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Party-Based RPG, Base Building; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Strategy, Management
Price point
$14.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.

The top 10 games average 76% positive over 4,364 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $9.6k, median $19k, 1 in 4 over $210k, 1 in 20 over $830k.

3 in 10 developers made under $9.6k. 8 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 51 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Party-Based RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Board GameFair24 devs · median $18k · 29 announced
  2. + Point & ClickFair17 devs · median $2.5k · 20 announced
  3. + 2D PlatformerFair55 devs · median $599 · 42 announced
  4. + Hidden ObjectFair15 devs · median $479 · 16 announced
  5. + Martial ArtsPoor odds5 devs · median $230k · 16 announced
  6. + Dating SimPoor odds13 devs · median $49k · 25 announced
  7. + SandboxPoor odds23 devs · median $34k · 71 announced
  8. + BuildingPoor odds12 devs · median $32k · 37 announced
  9. + AutomationPoor odds14 devs · median $21k · 28 announced
  10. + Turn-BasedPoor odds67 devs · median $19k · 76 announced
  11. + IncrementalPoor odds18 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  12. + Grid-Based MovementPoor odds46 devs · median $13k · 87 announced

All 111 pairs on the Party-Based RPG page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Kenshi 2018 · $89M SpellForce 3 Soul Harvest 2019 · $1.2M Dungeon Settlers 2026 · EA · $837k Urban Strife 2026 · $685k Goblin Stone 2024 · $551k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Kenshi older $29.99 98,451 95% 3.0M $89M (exactly $88,576,365) Lo-Fi Games
SpellForce 3 Soul Harvest older $19.99 1,992 84% 60k $1.2M (exactly $1,194,602) Grimlore Games
Dungeon Settlers · EA $24.99 1,117 79% 34k $837k (exactly $837,415) CanOpener
Urban Strife $34.99 653 69% 20k $685k (exactly $685,454) White Pond Games
Goblin Stone older $24.99 735 52% 22k $551k (exactly $551,030) Orc Chop Games
Zoria: Age of Shattering older $24.99 545 77% 16k $409k (exactly $408,586) Tiny Trinket Games
Valorborn · EA $24.99 492 60% 15k $369k (exactly $368,852) Laps Games
Bloodgrounds $19.99 561 77% 17k $336k (exactly $336,432) Exordium Games
Escape The Mad Empire · EA $17.99 406 88% 12k $219k (exactly $219,118) XperimentalZ Games
Legionbound $9.99 671 83% 20k $201k (exactly $201,099) Spicy Garlic Games
Ascent of Ashes · EA $14.99 268 68% 8.0k $121k (exactly $120,520) Vivid Storm Interactive
The Dead Await $12.99 108 67% 3.2k $42k (exactly $42,088) Shotx
Monster Alchemy · EA $18.99 56 91% 1.7k $32k (exactly $31,903) Team Metacarpo
Shards of the Realm $19.99 32 71% 960 $19k (exactly $19,190) Yevhen Rebrakov

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.