Do I ship it?

Games › Strategy › Strategy + FMV

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an FMV Strategy game?

Strategy + FMV

Of 50 developers who shipped an FMV Strategy 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.. 27 more are announced.

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

The middle developer here made $65k, ×104 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 7 in 10 cleared $34k. Revenue is up 415% on the market; 27 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year, ×1.2 per shipper.

Deciding numbers: median 104.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 415% on the market, 27 announced, ×1.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Strategy + FMV
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 50
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $66k → $56k → $65k → $181k → $760k (still earning) → $76k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Strategy + FMV: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 50
Bottom 30% $35k (exactly $34,765)
Median $65k (exactly $65,335)
Top 25% $366k (exactly $366,297)
Top 5% $2.4M (exactly $2,449,066)
Developers, 2 yr 50
Released games 104
Announced 27
Effort 5 / 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 415% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 4%, 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.

Strategy
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
FMV
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 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
Strategy, FMV; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Interactive Fiction, RPG, Visual Novel
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cinematic, Story Rich, Emotional
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 78,636 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $35k, median $65k, 1 in 4 over $360k, 1 in 20 over $2.4M.

3 in 10 developers made under $35k. 3 in 10 of the 30 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 27 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Job SimulatorFair62 devs · median $16k · 74 announced
  2. + BaseballFair14 devs · median $7.5k · 7 announced
  3. + LGBTQ+Fair89 devs · median $6.7k · 91 announced
  4. + WuxiaFair23 devs · median $4.7k · 41 announced
  5. + FarmingFair44 devs · median $4.3k · 42 announced
  6. + Martial ArtsFair81 devs · median $3.0k · 94 announced
  7. + SubmarineFair21 devs · median $2.4k · 23 announced
  8. + NavalFair66 devs · median $2.2k · 88 announced
  9. + IdlerFair696 devs · median $1.9k · 988 announced
  10. + Shop KeeperFair159 devs · median $1.8k · 264 announced
  11. + HackingFair96 devs · median $1.2k · 132 announced
  12. + IncrementalFair785 devs · median $1.2k · 1,127 announced

All 275 pairs on the Strategy page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Inscryption 2021 · $81M Command & Conquer™ Remastered Collection 2020 · $19M Tempest Rising 2025 · $12M Revenge on gold diggers 2025 · $9.8M Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3 2009 · $3.0M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Inscryption older $19.99 135,017 96% 4.1M $81M (exactly $80,969,695) Daniel Mullins Games
Command & Conquer™ Remastered Collection older $19.99 31,503 90% 945k $19M (exactly $18,892,349) Petroglyph, Lemon Sky Studios
Tempest Rising $39.99 9,811 87% 294k $12M (exactly $11,770,257) Slipgate Ironworks™
Revenge on gold diggers $6.99 46,610 80% 1.4M $9.8M (exactly $9,774,117) 前方工作室
Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3 older $6.96 14,605 85% 438k $3.0M (exactly $3,049,524) EA Los Angeles
Mandate Of Heaven $14.99 5,446 91% 163k $2.4M (exactly $2,449,066) 木焱工作室
Peeping Dorm Manager older $10.99 6,206 92% 186k $2.0M (exactly $2,046,118) HornyDoge
Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™ older $6.96 8,777 89% 263k $1.8M (exactly $1,832,638) EA Los Angeles
At Dead Of Night older $15.99 3,289 94% 99k $1.6M (exactly $1,577,733) Baggy Cat Ltd.
Command & Conquer™ Generals Zero Hour older $6.96 6,131 91% 184k $1.3M (exactly $1,280,153) EA Pacific
Shao Song I $14.99 2,671 81% 80k $1.2M (exactly $1,201,149) 互动之星, 猫眼娱乐
美女，请别影响我成仙 $10.99 3,140 93% 94k $1.0M (exactly $1,035,258) 蒸汽满满工作室
Rebooted Fate $14.99 1,846 95% 55k $830k (exactly $830,146) Jilin miaomiao, 山与海工作室
SubZero $9.99 2,719 92% 82k $815k (exactly $814,884) Joy Media Limited
Conquer the world $12.99 1,996 92% 60k $778k (exactly $777,841) 互动之星
SIFU Kidnapped! Adventure in the Women's Kingdom $9.99 2,537 95% 76k $760k (exactly $760,339) 次元边界
极速营救 $9.99 1,860 86% 56k $557k (exactly $557,442) 优映文化, 想象颗粒

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