Do I ship it?

GamesPolitical SimPolitical Sim + Cold War

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Cold-War Political Sim?

Political Sim + Cold War

Only 15 developers shipped a Cold-War Political Sim 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.. 23 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $9.9k, ×16 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 2710% on the market; 23 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 15.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 2710% on the market, 23 announced, ×2.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Political Sim + Cold War
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 15
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $90 → $900 → $9.9k (still earning) → $24k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Political Sim + Cold War: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 15
Bottom 30% $390 (exactly $390)
Median $9.9k (exactly $9,890)
Top 25% $24k (exactly $24,465)
Top 5% $167k (exactly $167,311)
Developers, 2 yr 15
Released games 42
Announced 23
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $8.99

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 2710% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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.

Political Sim
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Cold War
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Political Sim
Price point
$8.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 83% positive over 1,319 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $390, median $9.9k, 1 in 4 over $24k, 1 in 20 over $160k.

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. 23 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Political Sim with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + DetectiveFair10 devs · median $9.9k · 15 announced
  2. + Psychological HorrorFair10 devs · median $4.8k · 16 announced
  3. + IdlerFair20 devs · median $1.2k · 14 announced
  4. + IncrementalFair17 devs · median $832 · 16 announced
  5. + Board GameFair18 devs · median $600 · 13 announced
  6. + TabletopFair12 devs · median $600 · 12 announced
  7. + CombatPoor odds14 devs · median $49k · 22 announced
  8. + Sci-fiPoor odds24 devs · median $17k · 33 announced
  9. + FuturisticPoor odds16 devs · median $15k · 27 announced
  10. + 4XPoor odds29 devs · median $12k · 50 announced
  11. + BuildingPoor odds37 devs · median $9.6k · 83 announced
  12. + SpacePoor odds14 devs · median $9.6k · 25 announced

All 72 pairs on the Political Sim page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

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
Twilight Struggle older $9.99 2,568 86% 77k $770k (exactly $769,630) Playdek, Inc.
Supreme Ruler Ultimate older $19.99 1,169 77% 35k $701k (exactly $701,049) BattleGoat Studios
Tropico 3 older $9.99 843 90% 25k $253k (exactly $252,647) Haemimont Games
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
Crisis in the Kremlin: The Cold War $7.99 698 80% 21k $167k (exactly $167,311) Nostalgames
Ostalgie: The Berlin Wall older $5.99 666 92% 20k $120k (exactly $119,680) Nostalgames
SGS NATO's Nightmare older $34.99 107 70% 3.2k $112k (exactly $112,318) Strategy Game Studio
SGS Korean War older $29.99 121 81% 3.6k $109k (exactly $108,864) Strategy Game Studio
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
What Awaits, Aleksey? $15.99 51 86% 1.5k $24k (exactly $24,465) JKBC
Kiloton $6.99 103 96% 3.1k $22k (exactly $21,599) Jack Morehart
Rise of Atom $19.99 29 79% 870 $17k (exactly $17,391) Glass Bubble Software
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
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.

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