Do I ship it?

Games › Grand Strategy › Grand Strategy + Puzzle

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Puzzle Grand Strategy?

Grand Strategy + Puzzle

Of 35 developers who shipped a Puzzle Grand Strategy 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.. 30 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 7 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $240 in the last 2 years and $240 over 4, against a market of $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build. 19 developers shipped in the last year and 30 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.2 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 30 announced, ×1.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Grand Strategy + Puzzle
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 35
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $657 → $628 → $2.0k → $239 → $564 → $450 → $0 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Grand Strategy + Puzzle: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 35
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $239 (exactly $239)
Top 25% $809 (exactly $809)
Top 5% $37k (exactly $36,937)
Developers, 2 yr 35
Released games 112
Announced 30
Effort 7 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $3.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Grand Strategy
effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
Puzzle
effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
Systems
Grand Strategy, Puzzle; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Adventure, Action
Price point
$3.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Cute
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 1,116 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 $240, 1 in 4 over $800, 1 in 20 over $36k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. Nearly all of the 25 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Grand Strategy with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + RoguelikeFair18 devs · median $3.3k · 22 announced
  2. + SportsFair21 devs · median $2.1k · 26 announced
  3. + RogueliteFair21 devs · median $2.0k · 23 announced
  4. + CrimeFair8 devs · median $1.9k · 13 announced
  5. + RacingFair8 devs · median $1.8k · 7 announced
  6. + IncrementalFair17 devs · median $1.3k · 27 announced
  7. + Artificial IntelligenceLong shot21 devs · median $750 · 38 announced
  8. + TabletopLong shot26 devs · median $450 · 26 announced
  9. + Turn-BasedPoor odds19 devs · median $131k · 20 announced
  10. + SandboxPoor odds59 devs · median $51k · 125 announced
  11. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds15 devs · median $37k · 29 announced
  12. + DiplomacyPoor odds54 devs · median $34k · 117 announced

All 104 pairs on the Grand Strategy page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Unity of Command II 2019 · $1.8M HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator 2026 · $478k Unity of Command: Stalingrad Campaign 2012 · $242k Orbi Universo 2020 · $117k MechDefender - Tower Defense 2020 · $41k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Unity of Command II older $29.99 2,042 79% 61k $1.8M (exactly $1,837,187) 2x2 Games, Croteam
HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator $16.99 937 88% 28k $478k (exactly $477,589) HotBunny
Unity of Command: Stalingrad Campaign older $9.99 808 78% 24k $242k (exactly $242,158) 2x2 Games
Orbi Universo older $19.99 195 76% 5.9k $117k (exactly $116,941) Orbi Universo Team
MechDefender - Tower Defense older $4.99 272 76% 8.2k $41k (exactly $40,718) Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi
ATC Ground Point $15.99 77 81% 2.3k $37k (exactly $36,937) Blueon
Waiting For The Raven older $14.99 61 77% 1.8k $27k (exactly $27,432) Musclebird
12 Labours of Hercules VI: Race for Olympus (Platinum Edition) older $2.99 221 87% 6.6k $20k (exactly $19,824) Jetdogs Studios, Zoom Out Games
X-POINT · EA older $19.99 32 78% 960 $19k (exactly $19,190) Andrey Scanarri (Scanarri)
Mini Countries older $9.99 53 66% 1.6k $16k (exactly $15,884) Yheeky Games
EmberStride $29.99 12 91% 360 $11k (exactly $10,796) Sharkgame
Gold Defence $9.99 20 65% 600 $6.0k (exactly $5,994) Gamesforgames
Summoner's Automata $9.99 14 85% 420 $4.2k (exactly $4,196) Gamesforgames
Happy Piggy $9.99 13 100% 390 $3.9k (exactly $3,896) Gamesforgames
Emoji Wars $9.99 12 91% 360 $3.6k (exactly $3,596) Total
Stepfight $9.99 10 100% 300 $3.0k (exactly $2,997) Gamesforgames
Explore Dreams: Dreamcore $12.99 5 80% 150 $1.9k (exactly $1,948) Maxwell Play
Guess the Flag! $3.99 16 93% 480 $1.9k (exactly $1,915) Source Byte

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