Games › Tactical › Tactical + Cyberpunk
Should I ship a Cyberpunk Tactical game?
Tactical + Cyberpunk
Of 62 developers who shipped a Cyberpunk Tactical 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.. 135 more are announced, ×4.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $640k, ×1022 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 135 games are announced against 33 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,594) |
| Top 5% | $642k (exactly $641,743) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 62 |
| Released games | 173 |
| Announced | 135 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.90 |
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 75% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, 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
- Tactical; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelike, Roguelite
- Price point
- $9.90 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Difficult, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.90.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 14,708 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 35 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 135 games are announced against 33 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + Farming SimFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Transistor | older | $19.99 | 27,993 93% | 840k | $17M (exactly $16,787,402) | Supergiant Games |
| | Cruelty Squad | older | $19.99 | 23,209 96% | 696k | $14M (exactly $13,918,437) | Consumer Softproducts |
| | SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising | older | $19.99 | 10,111 94% | 303k | $6.1M (exactly $6,063,567) | Flow Fire Games |
| | Quasimorph | $24.99 | 7,196 82% | 216k | $5.4M (exactly $5,394,841) | Magnum Scriptum | |
| | Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game | older | $39.99 | 4,087 87% | 123k | $4.9M (exactly $4,903,174) | Iron Tower Studio |
| | Shadowrun Returns | older | $14.99 | 9,521 88% | 286k | $4.3M (exactly $4,281,594) | Harebrained Schemes |
| | Invisible, Inc. | older | $19.99 | 5,096 91% | 153k | $3.1M (exactly $3,056,071) | Klei Entertainment |
| | Cyber Knights: Flashpoint | $29.99 | 2,926 93% | 88k | $2.6M (exactly $2,632,522) | Trese Brothers | |
| | Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut | older | $14.99 | 5,411 89% | 162k | $2.4M (exactly $2,433,327) | Harebrained Schemes |
| | Satellite Reign | older | $29.99 | 2,619 75% | 79k | $2.4M (exactly $2,356,314) | 5 Lives Studios |
| | ZEPHON | $39.99 | 1,838 83% | 55k | $2.2M (exactly $2,205,049) | Proxy Studios | |
| | Card-en-Ciel | $24.99 | 856 90% | 26k | $642k (exactly $641,743) | INTI CREATES CO., LTD. | |
| | Enter the Chronosphere | · EA | $14.99 | 420 94% | 13k | $189k (exactly $188,874) | Effort Star |
| | Nonentity Galaxy | $9.99 | 587 94% | 18k | $176k (exactly $175,924) | Brick-Up Studio | |
| | CyberCorp | $14.99 | 351 75% | 11k | $158k (exactly $157,845) | Megame LLC | |
| | Twilight Wars | $14.99 | 229 74% | 6.9k | $103k (exactly $102,981) | Comrade Bear Games | |
| | 868-BACK | $19.99 | 122 98% | 3.7k | $73k (exactly $73,163) | Michael Brough | |
| | Cyberpunk SFX | $9.99 | 183 83% | 5.5k | $55k (exactly $54,845) | Whale Rock Games |
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.