Games › Strategy › Strategy + Futuristic
Should I ship a Futuristic Strategy game?
Strategy + Futuristic
Of 446 developers who shipped a Futuristic 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.. 868 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $670, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×184 the market median. Revenue is up 50% on the market; 868 games are announced against 265 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $672 (exactly $672) |
| Top 25% | $4.3k (exactly $4,341) |
| Top 5% | $116k (exactly $115,573) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 446 |
| Released games | 1,274 |
| Announced | 868 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 50% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Futuristic
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Strategy; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Management, Base Building
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 64,262 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 241 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 868 games are announced against 265 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Strategy with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + BaseballFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + WuxiaFair
- + FarmingFair
- + Martial ArtsFair
- + SubmarineFair
- + NavalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Shop KeeperFair
- + HackingFair
Comparable games
Stellaris 2016 · $210M 
Ghostrunner 2020 · $42M 
Watch_Dogs™ 2014 · $30M 
BATTLETECH 2018 · $28M 
Hardspace: Shipbreaker 2022 · $20M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Stellaris | older | $49.99 | 139,718 85% | 4.2M | $210M (exactly $209,535,085) | Paradox Development Studio |
| | Ghostrunner | older | $29.99 | 46,818 91% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $42,122,155) | One More Level, 3D Realms, Slipgate Iro… (One More Level, 3D Realms, Slipgate Ironworks™, All in! Games) |
| | Watch_Dogs™ | older | $19.99 | 49,193 79% | 1.5M | $30M (exactly $29,501,042) | Ubisoft |
| | BATTLETECH | older | $39.99 | 23,024 84% | 691k | $28M (exactly $27,621,893) | Harebrained Schemes |
| | Hardspace: Shipbreaker | older | $34.99 | 19,431 89% | 583k | $20M (exactly $20,396,721) | Blackbird Interactive |
 | XCOM: Enemy Unknown | older | $14.99 | 40,345 93% | 1.2M | $18M (exactly $18,143,146) | Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Linux) |
 | Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ | older | $39.99 | 14,047 61% | 421k | $17M (exactly $16,852,186) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
 | The Alters | $34.99 | 15,330 90% | 460k | $16M (exactly $16,091,901) | 11 bit studios | |
 | Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters | older | $44.99 | 11,426 76% | 343k | $15M (exactly $15,421,672) | Complex Games |
 | Homeworld Remastered Collection | older | $34.99 | 11,977 87% | 359k | $13M (exactly $12,572,257) | Gearbox Software, Aspyr (Mac) |
 | shapez 2 - Factory | $29.99 | 13,846 96% | 415k | $12M (exactly $12,457,246) | tobspr Games | |
 | Tempest Rising | $39.99 | 9,811 87% | 294k | $12M (exactly $11,770,257) | Slipgate Ironworks™ | |
 | The Bazaar | $19.99 | 14,931 70% | 448k | $9.0M (exactly $8,954,121) | Tempo | |
 | Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | $34.99 | 4,162 79% | 125k | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) | Gamexcite | |
 | Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II | $39.99 | 2,088 53% | 63k | $2.5M (exactly $2,504,974) | Bulwark Studios | |
 | ICBM: Escalation | $29.99 | 1,248 86% | 37k | $1.1M (exactly $1,122,826) | SoftWarWare | |
 | Solargene | $34.99 | 777 77% | 23k | $816k (exactly $815,617) | Alexander Semenov | |
 | Solar Expanse - Space Exploration Manager | · EA | $17.99 | 1,252 87% | 38k | $676k (exactly $675,704) | SpaceOps |
 | Modulus: Factory Automation | $24.99 | 817 90% | 25k | $613k (exactly $612,505) | Happy Volcano |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.