Do I ship it?

Games › Grand Strategy › Grand Strategy + Roguelike

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Roguelike Grand Strategy?

Grand Strategy + Roguelike

Only 18 developers shipped a Roguelike 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, Rogue Hex, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 22 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 7 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $3.3k, ×2.2 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $540. Revenue is up 500% on the market; 22 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 2.2 times the market baseline, revenue up 500% on the market, 22 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Grand Strategy + Roguelike
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 18
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.0k → $210 → $4.2k → $599 (still earning) → $71k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Grand Strategy + Roguelike: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 18
Bottom 30% $539 (exactly $539)
Median $3.3k (exactly $3,293)
Top 25% $71k (exactly $71,329)
Top 5% $156k (exactly $155,922)
Developers, 2 yr 18
Released games 39
Announced 22
Effort 7 / 10
AI-buildability Low
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 500% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 5%, 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
Roguelike
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
Systems
Grand Strategy, Roguelike; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, 4X, Action RTS
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Minimalist
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 85% positive over 1,391 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $540, median $3.3k, 1 in 4 over $71k, 1 in 20 over $150k.

3 in 10 developers made under $540. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 22 games are announced against 12 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. + SportsFair21 devs · median $2.1k · 26 announced
  2. + RogueliteFair21 devs · median $2.0k · 23 announced
  3. + CrimeFair8 devs · median $1.9k · 13 announced
  4. + RacingFair8 devs · median $1.8k · 7 announced
  5. + IncrementalFair17 devs · median $1.3k · 27 announced
  6. + Artificial IntelligenceLong shot21 devs · median $750 · 38 announced
  7. + TabletopLong shot26 devs · median $450 · 26 announced
  8. + Turn-BasedPoor odds19 devs · median $131k · 20 announced
  9. + SandboxPoor odds59 devs · median $51k · 125 announced
  10. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds15 devs · median $37k · 29 announced
  11. + DiplomacyPoor odds54 devs · median $34k · 117 announced
  12. + NavalPoor odds8 devs · median $27k · 17 announced

All 104 pairs on the Grand Strategy page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Rogue State Revolution 2021 · $188k Rogue Hex 2025 · $156k Circle Empires 2 2026 · $104k Epic Manager - Create Your Own Adventuring Agency! 2016 · $99k An Ankou 2023 · EA · $90k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Rogue State Revolution older $12.99 483 75% 14k $188k (exactly $188,225) LRDGames, Inc.
Rogue Hex $19.99 260 89% 7.8k $156k (exactly $155,922) Topstitch Games
Circle Empires 2 $12.99 266 72% 8.0k $104k (exactly $103,660) Luminous
Epic Manager - Create Your Own Adventuring Agency! older $17.99 184 61% 5.5k $99k (exactly $99,305) ManaVoid Entertainment
An Ankou · EA older $4.99 604 67% 18k $90k (exactly $90,419) Alkemi
Three Kingdoms : Alias · EA $7.99 359 79% 11k $86k (exactly $86,052) Plotrick
Repterra $19.99 122 90% 3.7k $73k (exactly $73,163) Chute Apps
Worlds Upon The Wind $9.99 238 99% 7.1k $71k (exactly $71,329) Max Shawabkeh
Hero Generations: ReGen older $14.99 79 55% 2.4k $36k (exactly $35,526) Heart Shaped Games LLC
Hypnosis Card older $4.99 216 71% 6.5k $32k (exactly $32,335) Naku Kinoko
Hypnosis Card 2 $12.99 65 78% 2.0k $25k (exactly $25,330) Naku Kinoko
TownsFolk $11.99 22 81% 660 $7.9k (exactly $7,913) Short Circuit Studios
Inflafrog: Collector's Edition $4.99 28 100% 840 $4.2k (exactly $4,192) Nice Cream
Khaldun: Text Based Strategy $4.99 22 95% 660 $3.3k (exactly $3,293) SkyWolf
Arms Dealer $5.99 9 100% 270 $1.6k (exactly $1,617) Koro Pixel Studio

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