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Should I ship an Online Co-Op Grand Strategy?
Online Co-Op + Grand Strategy
Only 15 developers shipped an Online Co-Op Grand Strategy in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 32 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×1.3 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $330; 1 in 20 cleared $11M, ×7379 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 32 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $330 (exactly $330) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.9k (exactly $1,887) |
| Top 25% | $104k (exactly $103,660) |
| Top 5% | $11M (exactly $11,053,714) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 54 |
| Announced | 32 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 down 100% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 31%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Online Co-Op
- effort 8 / 10 · low · netcode, lobbies and state sync across machines
- Grand Strategy
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Online Co-Op, Grand Strategy; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RTS, Strategy, Base Building
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 14,393 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $330. 6 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 32 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Online Co-Op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Bullet HeavenStrong odds
- + Escape RoomFair
- + TypingFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
Comparable games
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016 · $497M 
Total War: WARHAMMER III 2022 · $189M 
Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition 2013 · $49M 
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition 2025 · $11M 
Iron Harvest 2020 · $11M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI | older | $59.99 | 276,113 86% | 8.3M | $497M (exactly $496,920,566) | Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linu… (Firaxis Games, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux)) |
| | Total War: WARHAMMER III | older | $59.99 | 104,822 71% | 3.1M | $189M (exactly $188,648,153) | CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive |
| | Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition | older | $29.99 | 54,547 87% | 1.6M | $49M (exactly $49,075,936) | CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition | $29.99 | 12,286 85% | 369k | $11M (exactly $11,053,714) | Relic Entertainment | |
| | Iron Harvest | older | $29.99 | 11,682 74% | 350k | $11M (exactly $10,510,295) | KING Art |
 | Planetary Annihilation: TITANS | older | $29.99 | 11,401 84% | 342k | $10M (exactly $10,257,480) | Planetary Annihilation Inc |
 | Sins of a Solar Empire®: Rebellion | older | $19.99 | 10,243 93% | 307k | $6.1M (exactly $6,142,727) | Ironclad Games Corporation, Stardock En… (Ironclad Games Corporation, Stardock Entertainment) |
 | Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance | older | $12.99 | 9,919 96% | 298k | $3.9M (exactly $3,865,434) | Gas Powered Games |
 | Galactic Civilizations IV | older | $39.99 | 2,207 72% | 66k | $2.6M (exactly $2,647,738) | Stardock Entertainment |
 | Oriental Empires | older | $29.99 | 2,584 80% | 78k | $2.3M (exactly $2,324,825) | Shining Pixel Studios |
 | ICBM: Escalation | $29.99 | 1,248 86% | 37k | $1.1M (exactly $1,122,826) | SoftWarWare | |
 | Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown | $27.99 | 374 54% | 11k | $314k (exactly $314,048) | Zugalu Entertainment | |
 | Circle Empires 2 | $12.99 | 266 72% | 8.0k | $104k (exactly $103,660) | Luminous | |
 | Renaissance Kingdom Wars | $19.99 | 141 70% | 4.2k | $85k (exactly $84,558) | Reverie World Studios | |
 | Heroic Aegisio: Origins | $7.99 | 27 77% | 810 | $6.5k (exactly $6,472) | Vview Games | |
 | Kingdom Dice | $7.00 | 10 100% | 300 | $2.1k (exactly $2,100) | DRD | |
 | Smoke Town | $6.99 | 9 100% | 270 | $1.9k (exactly $1,887) | TSRV | |
 | CheeseMoney | $2.99 | 13 23% | 390 | $1.2k (exactly $1,166) | Liang ZhiYa, Global People Holdings Gro… (Liang ZhiYa, Global People Holdings Group LLC, Song-Ya Network Systems (Guangzhou) Co Ltd) | |
 | Knowledge Domination | $0.99 | 19 78% | 570 | $564 (exactly $564) | Frosy Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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