Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Real Time Tactics

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Flight Real Time Tactics?

Flight + Real Time Tactics

Only 17 developers shipped a Flight Real Time Tactics 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, Air Defender, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 33 more are announced, ×4.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $390, ×0.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240. 33 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.7 per shipper, while revenue is up 6850% on the market.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 6850% on the market, 33 announced, ×4.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Real Time Tactics
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 17
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $356 → $240 → $7.7k → $19k → $15k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Real Time Tactics: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 17
Bottom 30% $240 (exactly $240)
Median $390 (exactly $390)
Top 25% $17k (exactly $17,391)
Top 5% $220k (exactly $220,475)
Developers, 2 yr 17
Released games 56
Announced 33
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 up 6850% on the market, supply 30% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 16%, 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.

Flight
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Real Time Tactics
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Flight, Real Time Tactics; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, RTS, Simulation
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down, 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 979 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $390, 1 in 4 over $17k, 1 in 20 over $220k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. All of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 33 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.7 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Flight with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair9 devs · median $2.4k · 11 announced
  2. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $1.3k · 10 announced
  3. + Quick-Time EventsFair9 devs · median $657 · 9 announced
  4. + CatsFair6 devs · median $629 · 10 announced
  5. + Life SimPoor odds12 devs · median $70k · 29 announced
  6. + TradingPoor odds6 devs · median $36k · 21 announced
  7. + MiningPoor odds10 devs · median $35k · 13 announced
  8. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $19k · 57 announced
  9. + Base BuildingPoor odds23 devs · median $17k · 48 announced
  10. + EconomyPoor odds20 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  11. + RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $15k · 18 announced
  12. + Cold WarPoor odds10 devs · median $11k · 16 announced

All 132 pairs on the Flight page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Nuclear Option 2023 · EA · $6.2M I am an Air Traffic Controller 4 2020 · $1.0M ICBM 2020 · $993k Air Defender 2025 · EA · $220k Drone Sector 2026 · EA · $187k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Nuclear Option · EA older $19.99 10,275 95% 308k $6.2M (exactly $6,161,917) Shockfront Studios
I am an Air Traffic Controller 4 older $59.99 566 79% 17k $1.0M (exactly $1,018,630) TechnoBrain
ICBM older $19.99 1,655 91% 50k $993k (exactly $992,503) SoftWarWare, K-Project
Air Defender · EA $20.19 364 78% 11k $220k (exactly $220,475) ROTOR3
Drone Sector · EA $16.99 366 89% 11k $187k (exactly $186,550) Icosphere
Drone Swarm older $16.99 279 62% 8.4k $142k (exactly $142,206) stillalive studios
Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War older $19.99 234 77% 7.0k $140k (exactly $140,330) Volition Inc.
Endless ATC older $7.99 512 97% 15k $123k (exactly $122,726) startgrid
ATC Ground Point $15.99 77 81% 2.3k $37k (exactly $36,937) Blueon
Catharage $9.99 62 82% 1.9k $19k (exactly $18,581) Björn Michalski
WarOS · EA $19.99 29 72% 870 $17k (exactly $17,391) The7 Studio
HEXSTORM: Tears of Arcadia $8.99 56 75% 1.7k $15k (exactly $15,103) Tearevo
Pocket and Zooom $15.99 16 75% 480 $7.7k (exactly $7,675) TechnoBrain
Enemy Engaged: Apache vs Havoc $5.99 6 50% 180 $1.1k (exactly $1,078) Razorworks
Air Traffic Control $12.99 1 100% 30 $390 (exactly $390) Urban Isotope
Countermeasure Pioneers: Modern Drone Battlefield $5.99 2 50% 60 $359 (exactly $359) unmanedsystem

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