Games › RTS › RTS + Futuristic
Should I ship a Futuristic RTS?
RTS + Futuristic
Of 76 developers who shipped a Futuristic RTS 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.. 159 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×0.8 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $450k, ×307 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 159 games are announced against 41 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) |
| Top 25% | $14k (exactly $14,086) |
| Top 5% | $460k (exactly $459,748) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 76 |
| Released games | 247 |
| Announced | 159 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 25% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- RTS
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Futuristic
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- RTS; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Base Building, Wargame
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $21.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $21.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 13,739 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 44 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 159 games are announced against 41 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
RTS with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RomeFair
- + Outbreak SimFair
- + HorrorFair
- + NavalFair
- + TabletopFair
- + SportsLong shot
- + PuzzleLong shot
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
Comparable games
Homeworld Remastered Collection 2015 · $13M 
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Anniversary Edition (Classic) 2009 · $12M 
Tempest Rising 2025 · $12M 
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak 2016 · $12M 
Planetary Annihilation: TITANS 2015 · $10M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Homeworld Remastered Collection | older | $34.99 | 11,977 87% | 359k | $13M (exactly $12,572,257) | Gearbox Software, Aspyr (Mac) |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Anniversary Edition (Classic) | older | $49.99 | 8,084 85% | 243k | $12M (exactly $12,123,575) | Relic Entertainment, Feral Interactive… (Relic Entertainment, Feral Interactive (Mac/Linux)) |
| | Tempest Rising | $39.99 | 9,811 87% | 294k | $12M (exactly $11,770,257) | Slipgate Ironworks™ | |
| | Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak | older | $49.99 | 7,800 79% | 234k | $12M (exactly $11,697,660) | Blackbird Interactive |
| | Planetary Annihilation: TITANS | older | $29.99 | 11,401 84% | 342k | $10M (exactly $10,257,480) | Planetary Annihilation Inc |
 | Anno 2205™ | older | $39.99 | 6,115 70% | 183k | $7.3M (exactly $7,336,166) | Blue Byte |
 | Anno 2070™ | older | $19.99 | 11,571 59% | 347k | $6.9M (exactly $6,939,129) | Blue Byte, Related Designs |
 | Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance | older | $39.99 | 3,395 82% | 102k | $4.1M (exactly $4,072,982) | Slitherine Ltd. |
 | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Anniversary Edition (Classic) | older | $14.99 | 8,812 94% | 264k | $4.0M (exactly $3,962,756) | Relic Entertainment |
 | Supreme Commander 2 | older | $12.99 | 8,349 87% | 250k | $3.3M (exactly $3,253,605) | Gas Powered Games |
 | ICBM: Escalation | $29.99 | 1,248 86% | 37k | $1.1M (exactly $1,122,826) | SoftWarWare | |
 | Rogue Command | $19.99 | 1,018 89% | 31k | $610k (exactly $610,495) | feneq | |
 | Outworld Station | $18.99 | 807 84% | 24k | $460k (exactly $459,748) | Trickjump Games Ltd | |
 | Industrial Annihilation | · EA | $29.99 | 206 27% | 6.2k | $185k (exactly $185,338) | Galactic Annihilation |
 | Liquidation RTS | · EA | $21.99 | 161 89% | 4.8k | $106k (exactly $106,212) | Divio |
 | Outlive 25 | $11.99 | 204 93% | 6.1k | $73k (exactly $73,379) | Continuum Entertainment | |
 | Artificial Extinction 2 | $19.99 | 113 77% | 3.4k | $68k (exactly $67,766) | 100Hr Games Inc | |
 | Solar Wave | · EA | $17.99 | 80 75% | 2.4k | $43k (exactly $43,176) | SavGus Studio |
 | Oasis Mission: Colony Sim | $14.99 | 91 56% | 2.7k | $41k (exactly $40,923) | Lunar pug studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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