Games › Economy › Economy + Cold War
Should I ship a Cold-War Economy game?
Economy + Cold War
Only 12 developers shipped a Cold-War Economy game 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, Crisis in the Kremlin: The Cold War, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 21 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×1.9 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $390; 1 in 20 cleared $160k, ×266 the market median. Revenue is up 4450% on the market; 21 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $390 (exactly $390) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) |
| Top 25% | $15k (exactly $14,994) |
| Top 5% | $167k (exactly $167,311) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 12 |
| Released games | 29 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 4450% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 21%, 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
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Economy
- Price point
- $7.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 997 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $390. 7 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 21 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Economy with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Football (Soccer)Fair
- + ScienceFair
- + MiningFair
- + LootFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + God GameFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
Comparable games
Tropico 4 2011 · $3.7M 
Tropico 3 2009 · $253k 
Crisis in the Kremlin: The Cold War 2025 · $167k 
For the Fatherland: Chronicle of Park Chung-hee 2026 · $79k 
Socialism Simulator 2022 · $29k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tropico 4 | older | $14.99 | 8,211 91% | 246k | $3.7M (exactly $3,692,487) | Haemimont Games |
| | Tropico 3 | older | $9.99 | 843 90% | 25k | $253k (exactly $252,647) | Haemimont Games |
| | Crisis in the Kremlin: The Cold War | $7.99 | 698 80% | 21k | $167k (exactly $167,311) | Nostalgames | |
| | For the Fatherland: Chronicle of Park Chung-hee | $14.99 | 176 88% | 5.3k | $79k (exactly $79,147) | KMS STUDIO | |
| | Socialism Simulator | older | $3.99 | 240 95% | 7.2k | $29k (exactly $28,728) | Sempiternal Rain |
 | Arms Race - TCWE | older | $9.99 | 60 68% | 1.8k | $18k (exactly $17,982) | Alina Digital |
 | SkyChart: Airline Executive | · EA | $24.99 | 20 75% | 600 | $15k (exactly $14,994) | Casey Jones Labs |
 | POTUS Election Sim | $9.99 | 47 53% | 1.4k | $14k (exactly $14,086) | Dackers Studios | |
 | Statecraft: Corrupted Democracy | $9.99 | 33 90% | 990 | $9.9k (exactly $9,890) | Engincan Çiçek, Bad Engine Studio | |
 | US and THEM | older | $2.99 | 82 36% | 2.5k | $7.4k (exactly $7,355) | Icehole Games |
 | Lunokhod | $4.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) | Lunokhod Labs | |
 | The Syndicate: Classified Operations | $4.99 | 7 57% | 210 | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) | A and I Software | |
 | Government Contractors: Arms of Influence | · EA | $6.00 | 5 20% | 150 | $900 (exactly $900) | Dan K. |
 | World War Forex | · EA | $12.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $390 (exactly $390) | Leobot Electronics, Leon Botha, INESSOFT |
 | Strategic Stalemate | $4.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | Lixdy |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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