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Should I ship a Diplomacy Tactical game?
Diplomacy + Tactical
Of 24 developers who shipped a Diplomacy 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.. 61 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 $22k, ×34 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $10M, ×17302 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 61 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $600 (exactly $600) |
|---|---|
| Median | $22k (exactly $21,599) |
| Top 25% | $185k (exactly $184,708) |
| Top 5% | $11M (exactly $10,865,683) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 24 |
| Released games | 119 |
| Announced | 61 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 70% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Diplomacy, Tactical; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Grand Strategy, Strategy, Economy
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $59.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $59.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 62% positive over 78,949 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 5 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 61 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Diplomacy with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + Space SimLong shot
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + PvPPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + SurvivalPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + Alternate HistoryPoor odds
Comparable games
Hearts of Iron IV 2016 · $412M 
Sid Meier's Civilization® V 2010 · $115M 
Sid Meier's Civilization VII 2025 · $94M 
ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV 2020 · $24M 
Dune: Spice Wars 2023 · $12M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hearts of Iron IV | older | $49.99 | 274,901 90% | 8.2M | $412M (exactly $412,269,030) | Paradox Development Studio |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization® V | older | $29.99 | 128,186 95% | 3.8M | $115M (exactly $115,328,944) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization VII | $69.99 | 44,789 48% | 1.3M | $94M (exactly $94,043,463) | Firaxis Games | |
| | ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV | older | $59.99 | 13,086 62% | 393k | $24M (exactly $23,550,874) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
| | Dune: Spice Wars | older | $34.99 | 11,561 79% | 347k | $12M (exactly $12,135,582) | Shiro Games |
 | Total War: ROME REMASTERED | older | $29.99 | 12,627 77% | 379k | $11M (exactly $11,360,512) | Creative Assembly, Feral Interactive |
 | Terra Invicta | $39.99 | 9,057 80% | 272k | $11M (exactly $10,865,683) | Pavonis Interactive | |
 | Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII | older | $59.99 | 5,828 57% | 175k | $10M (exactly $10,488,652) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
 | Old World | older | $39.99 | 6,002 82% | 180k | $7.2M (exactly $7,200,599) | Mohawk Games |
 | HighFleet | older | $29.99 | 7,024 88% | 211k | $6.3M (exactly $6,319,493) | Konstantin Koshutin |
 | ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS 8 REMAKE | $59.99 | 3,118 49% | 94k | $5.6M (exactly $5,611,465) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. | |
 | Age of History 3 | $9.99 | 18,102 85% | 543k | $5.4M (exactly $5,425,169) | Łukasz Jakowski | |
 | ENDLESS Legend™ 2 | · EA | $49.99 | 2,476 83% | 74k | $3.7M (exactly $3,713,257) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
 | Prime Monster | $19.99 | 308 83% | 9.2k | $185k (exactly $184,708) | Cavalier Game Studios | |
 | AfterWar | $34.99 | 139 72% | 4.2k | $146k (exactly $145,908) | Dmytro Lumen | |
 | States of Power | $11.99 | 344 88% | 10k | $124k (exactly $123,737) | Sarunas | |
 | King's Orders | $14.99 | 257 70% | 7.7k | $116k (exactly $115,573) | AFTERLIFE👻 | |
 | Three Kingdoms : Alias | · EA | $7.99 | 359 79% | 11k | $86k (exactly $86,052) | Plotrick |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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