Do I ship it?

Games › Grid-Based Movement › Grid-Based Movement + Futuristic

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Futuristic Grid-Based Movement game?

Grid-Based Movement + Futuristic

Of 44 developers who shipped a Futuristic Grid-Based Movement 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.. 65 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $180 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 4 / 10 build. 28 developers shipped in the last year and 65 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 45% on the market, 65 announced, ×2.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Grid-Based Movement + Futuristic
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 44
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.1k → $628 → $839 → $60 → $959 → $269 → $90 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Grid-Based Movement + Futuristic: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 44
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $179 (exactly $179)
Top 25% $898 (exactly $898)
Top 5% $13k (exactly $13,187)
Developers, 2 yr 44
Released games 125
Announced 65
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 45% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 20%, 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.

Grid-Based Movement
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
Futuristic
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Grid-Based Movement; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Logic, Puzzle
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, 2D, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 211 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $180, 1 in 4 over $890, 1 in 20 over $13k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 18 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 65 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Grid-Based Movement with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + HistoricalFair22 devs · median $3.0k · 30 announced
  2. + EconomyFair20 devs · median $1.2k · 29 announced
  3. + AutomationFair28 devs · median $959 · 26 announced
  4. + MiningFair12 devs · median $899 · 14 announced
  5. + CollectathonFair17 devs · median $809 · 17 announced
  6. + BuildingFair50 devs · median $719 · 57 announced
  7. + HackingFair14 devs · median $719 · 11 announced
  8. + SokobanFair143 devs · median $657 · 135 announced
  9. + ProgrammingFair23 devs · median $599 · 24 announced
  10. + DogsFair14 devs · median $599 · 7 announced
  11. + PlatformerFair23 devs · median $539 · 18 announced
  12. + Puzzle PlatformerFair62 devs · median $449 · 56 announced

All 126 pairs on the Grid-Based Movement page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Subterrain: Mines of Titan 2024 · $394k Spaceland: Sci-Fi Indie Tactics 2019 · $215k For The Warp 2022 · $195k The Last Cube 2022 · $77k One-inch Tactics 2024 · $53k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Subterrain: Mines of Titan older $19.99 657 75% 20k $394k (exactly $394,003) Pixellore Inc
Spaceland: Sci-Fi Indie Tactics older $19.99 358 75% 11k $215k (exactly $214,693) Tortuga Team
For The Warp older $14.99 434 72% 13k $195k (exactly $195,170) Massive Galaxy Studios
The Last Cube older $19.99 129 96% 3.9k $77k (exactly $77,361) Improx Games
One-inch Tactics older $19.99 88 94% 2.6k $53k (exactly $52,774) KOGADO STUDIO
The Infinite Black 2 older $6.99 201 87% 6.0k $42k (exactly $42,150) Spellbook
Toroban $20.00 60 86% 1.8k $36k (exactly $36,000) Hebert Games LLC
StarCrawlers Chimera older $19.99 43 69% 1.3k $26k (exactly $25,787) Juggernaut Games
Parcel older $4.99 140 84% 4.2k $21k (exactly $20,958) Polar Bunny Ltd
I, Robot $14.99 38 92% 1.1k $17k (exactly $17,089) Llamasoft Ltd.
Temporal Titans · EA $9.99 44 95% 1.3k $13k (exactly $13,187) Lost Tower Games
Dataminers $6.99 21 95% 630 $4.4k (exactly $4,404) Electrocosmos
Hexitten $14.99 7 100% 210 $3.1k (exactly $3,148) Korkea Maki Studios
Move That Box $4.99 20 85% 600 $3.0k (exactly $2,994) Crashykk Games
Theralite $10.99 6 100% 180 $2.0k (exactly $1,978) DualBitz
JAIL DICE: Roll to Break $6.99 8 100% 240 $1.7k (exactly $1,678) GyoonyGames
A Thread Between $11.99 3 100% 90 $1.1k (exactly $1,079) Sluice Gate Games
Totally Defenceless $7.99 4 100% 120 $959 (exactly $959) render

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