Do I ship it?

GamesTacticalTactical + Futuristic

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Futuristic Tactical game?

Tactical + Futuristic

Of 144 developers who shipped a Futuristic Tactical 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.. 331 more are announced, ×4.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $540, ×0.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90; 1 in 20 cleared $460k, ×739 the market median. Revenue is up 50% on the market; 331 games are announced against 77 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 50% on the market, 331 announced, ×4.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Tactical + Futuristic
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 144
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.1k → $359 → $989 → $539 → $539 → $450 → $1.8k (still earning) → $449 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Tactical + Futuristic: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 144
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $539 (exactly $539)
Top 25% $5.4k (exactly $5,396)
Top 5% $464k (exactly $464,168)
Developers, 2 yr 144
Released games 445
Announced 331
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 up 50% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, 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.

Tactical
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium 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
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Tactical; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, Combat
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 73% positive over 29,406 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $90, median $540, 1 in 4 over $5.3k, 1 in 20 over $460k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 87 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 331 games are announced against 77 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Tactical with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Football (American)Strong odds12 devs · median $5.8k · 8 announced
  2. + Mystery DungeonStrong odds20 devs · median $2.5k · 15 announced
  3. + Dating SimFair13 devs · median $11k · 9 announced
  4. + 6DOFFair14 devs · median $2.4k · 19 announced
  5. + Word GameFair23 devs · median $1.8k · 12 announced
  6. + TypingFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 9 announced
  7. + DwarvesFair7 devs · median $1.0k · 10 announced
  8. + Traditional RoguelikeFair38 devs · median $987 · 57 announced
  9. + Dynamic NarrationFair13 devs · median $899 · 16 announced
  10. + Farming SimFair12 devs · median $897 · 10 announced
  11. + SolitaireFair25 devs · median $479 · 22 announced
  12. + LGBTQ+Fair20 devs · median $479 · 21 announced

All 226 pairs on the Tactical page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Call of Duty®: Black Ops II older $39.99 23,307 86% 699k $28M (exactly $27,961,408) Treyarch
BATTLETECH older $39.99 23,024 84% 691k $28M (exactly $27,621,893) Harebrained Schemes
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))
Call of Duty®: Ghosts older $39.99 12,976 66% 389k $16M (exactly $15,567,307) Infinity Ward
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters older $44.99 11,426 76% 343k $15M (exactly $15,421,672) Complex Games
Crysis Remastered older $29.99 16,822 77% 505k $15M (exactly $15,134,753) Crytek
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))
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak older $49.99 7,800 79% 234k $12M (exactly $11,697,660) Blackbird Interactive
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
Angels Fall First $17.99 3,835 81% 115k $2.1M (exactly $2,069,749) Strangely Interactive Ltd
Skin Deep $19.99 1,672 94% 50k $1.0M (exactly $1,002,698) Blendo Games
IRON REBELLION $24.99 772 84% 23k $579k (exactly $578,768) Black Beach Studio
FRONT MISSION 3: Remake $34.99 453 74% 14k $476k (exactly $475,514) MegaPixel Studio S.A.
Transience $19.99 774 69% 23k $464k (exactly $464,168) RESURGENT
Every Day We Fight · EA $29.99 385 72% 12k $346k (exactly $346,384) Signal Space Lab
BREAK ARTS III $17.99 334 80% 10k $180k (exactly $180,260) MercuryStudio

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