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Should I ship a War Card Game?
Card Game + War
Of 35 developers who shipped a War Card 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.. 61 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $960, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $530k, ×856 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 61 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $955 (exactly $955) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $15,584) |
| Top 5% | $538k (exactly $537,841) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 35 |
| Released games | 119 |
| Announced | 61 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 45% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 34%, 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
- Card Game; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Deckbuilding, Card Battler
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 6,227 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 61 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Card Game with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SteampunkFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Inventory ManagementFair
- + DogsFair
- + MahjongFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Board GameFair
- + PuzzleFair
- + Dating SimPoor odds
Comparable games
Root 2020 · $2.3M 
Commander Quest 2025 · $1.0M 
Hexarchy 2023 · $738k 
FrostBound 2025 · $538k 
Warriors of the Nile 2 2022 · $531k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Root | older | $14.99 | 5,049 90% | 151k | $2.3M (exactly $2,270,535) | Dire Wolf |
| | Commander Quest | $11.99 | 2,804 74% | 84k | $1.0M (exactly $1,008,599) | Flyway Games, Inc. | |
| | Hexarchy | older | $19.99 | 1,231 83% | 37k | $738k (exactly $738,231) | Main Tank Software |
| | FrostBound | $14.99 | 1,196 82% | 36k | $538k (exactly $537,841) | Lyra Studio | |
| | Warriors of the Nile 2 | older | $14.99 | 1,180 88% | 35k | $531k (exactly $530,646) | Stove Studio |
 | HEART of CROWN Online | $29.99 | 412 84% | 12k | $371k (exactly $370,676) | illuCalab, FLIPFLOPs, quziralab. | |
 | There Are No Orcs | $8.99 | 1,188 93% | 36k | $320k (exactly $320,404) | BaseTrade Studio | |
 | Blood Rage: Digital Edition | older | $19.99 | 477 58% | 14k | $286k (exactly $286,057) | Endava |
 | Raiders of the North Sea | older | $14.99 | 238 86% | 7.1k | $107k (exactly $107,029) | Dire Wolf |
 | Third Front: WWII | older | $7.99 | 314 59% | 9.4k | $75k (exactly $75,266) | Hamsters Gaming |
 | Deckline | $3.99 | 294 86% | 8.8k | $35k (exactly $35,192) | Room Games, KREIDPIX | |
 | Vestiges: Fallen Tribes | $24.99 | 36 80% | 1.1k | $27k (exactly $26,989) | WanadevStudio | |
 | Flaregate Network | $14.99 | 58 77% | 1.7k | $26k (exactly $26,083) | Keycard Studio, LLC | |
 | Tuggowar | $7.99 | 103 91% | 3.1k | $25k (exactly $24,689) | Tension Games | |
 | Auto Battle Girl | $9.99 | 52 80% | 1.6k | $16k (exactly $15,584) | Mutual Fun Studio | |
 | Dictator Simulator: Gradnar | $4.99 | 84 97% | 2.5k | $13k (exactly $12,575) | GortagonGame |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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