Games › Grand Strategy › Grand Strategy + Cold War
Should I ship a Cold-War Grand Strategy?
Grand Strategy + Cold War
Only 13 developers shipped a Cold-War Grand Strategy 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, ICBM: Escalation, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 11 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $15k, ×10 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $9.9k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.1M, ×750 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 11 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $9.9k (exactly $9,890) |
|---|---|
| Median | $15k (exactly $14,994) |
| Top 25% | $79k (exactly $79,147) |
| Top 5% | $1.1M (exactly $1,122,826) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 38 |
| Announced | 11 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 85% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Grand Strategy
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Cold War
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Grand Strategy; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Management, Simulation
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 2,712 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $9.9k. 4 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 11 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Grand Strategy with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RoguelikeFair
- + SportsFair
- + RogueliteFair
- + CrimeFair
- + RacingFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceLong shot
- + TabletopLong shot
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
Xenonauts 2014 · $2.9M 
ICBM: Escalation 2024 · $1.1M 
Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks 2024 · EA · $900k 
Line War 2022 · $807k 
Supreme Ruler Ultimate 2014 · $701k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Xenonauts | older | $24.99 | 3,815 86% | 114k | $2.9M (exactly $2,860,106) | Goldhawk Interactive |
| | ICBM: Escalation | $29.99 | 1,248 86% | 37k | $1.1M (exactly $1,122,826) | SoftWarWare | |
| | Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks | · EA older | $29.99 | 1,000 65% | 30k | $900k (exactly $899,700) | FunGi |
| | Line War | older | $24.99 | 1,076 80% | 32k | $807k (exactly $806,677) | Studio Centurion |
| | Supreme Ruler Ultimate | older | $19.99 | 1,169 77% | 35k | $701k (exactly $701,049) | BattleGoat Studios |
 | Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game | older | $9.99 | 1,723 90% | 52k | $516k (exactly $516,383) | Martin Ivanov |
 | Crisis in the Kremlin | older | $4.99 | 1,372 83% | 41k | $205k (exactly $205,388) | Nostalgames |
 | China: Mao's legacy | older | $6.99 | 978 90% | 29k | $205k (exactly $205,087) | Nostalgames |
 | Armored Brigade II | $39.99 | 147 87% | 4.4k | $176k (exactly $176,356) | Veitikka Studios | |
 | 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 | |
 | Maestro's Cold War 2 | $12.99 | 170 92% | 5.1k | $66k (exactly $66,249) | Maestro Cinetik | |
 | Kiloton | $6.99 | 103 96% | 3.1k | $22k (exactly $21,599) | Jack Morehart | |
 | 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 | |
 | 1953: NATO vs Warsaw Pact | $5.99 | 70 41% | 2.1k | $13k (exactly $12,579) | Wastelands Interactive | |
 | Statecraft: Corrupted Democracy | $9.99 | 33 90% | 990 | $9.9k (exactly $9,890) | Engincan Çiçek, Bad Engine Studio |
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.