Do I ship it?

Games › Real Time Tactics › Real Time Tactics + Hack and Slash

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Hack and Slash Real Time Tactics?

Real Time Tactics + Hack and Slash

Of 25 developers who shipped a Hack and Slash Real Time Tactics 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.. 46 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $180k, ×301 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 46 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 70% on the market, 46 announced, ×3.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Real Time Tactics + Hack and Slash
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 25
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.6k → $4.0k → $1.2k → $2.2k → $898 → $719 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Real Time Tactics + Hack and Slash: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 25
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $898 (exactly $898)
Top 25% $6.0k (exactly $5,994)
Top 5% $189k (exactly $188,842)
Developers, 2 yr 25
Released games 77
Announced 46
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 down 70% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 29%, 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.

Real Time Tactics
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Hack and Slash
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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
Real Time Tactics, Hack and Slash; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelite, Strategy
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 75% positive over 1,942 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $900, 1 in 4 over $5.9k, 1 in 20 over $180k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 46 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Real Time Tactics with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + DragonsStrong odds17 devs · median $6.6k · 19 announced
  2. + Outbreak SimFair12 devs · median $1.8k · 14 announced
  3. + HackingFair11 devs · median $987 · 11 announced
  4. + World War IIPoor odds24 devs · median $67k · 35 announced
  5. + Cold WarPoor odds9 devs · median $19k · 16 announced
  6. + HistoricalPoor odds88 devs · median $19k · 154 announced
  7. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds19 devs · median $16k · 31 announced
  8. + Real-TimePoor odds16 devs · median $16k · 26 announced
  9. + MechsPoor odds16 devs · median $13k · 32 announced
  10. + Vehicular CombatPoor odds20 devs · median $9.6k · 50 announced
  11. + God GamePoor odds19 devs · median $7.8k · 32 announced
  12. + Open WorldPoor odds29 devs · median $7.2k · 111 announced

All 176 pairs on the Real Time Tactics page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Kingdom Heroes 8 2021 · $12M Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator 2 2023 · $4.3M Weird RPG 2022 · $1.3M Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders 2020 · $627k Huaxia: Warring States 2026 · EA · $420k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Kingdom Heroes 8 older $29.99 12,793 55% 384k $12M (exactly $11,509,862) USERJOY Technology Co.,Ltd.
Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator 2 older $19.99 7,206 84% 216k $4.3M (exactly $4,321,438) Brilliant Game Studios
Weird RPG older $10.99 4,066 92% 122k $1.3M (exactly $1,340,560) yuzhen
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders older $19.99 1,045 91% 31k $627k (exactly $626,686) Blueside
Huaxia: Warring States · EA $19.99 701 61% 21k $420k (exactly $420,390) 秦川汉渚
Dwerve older $19.99 426 70% 13k $255k (exactly $255,472) Half Human Games
Warlords Battleground: Extraction $11.99 525 84% 16k $189k (exactly $188,842) 绝汪
Legendary Hoplite older $14.99 335 63% 10k $151k (exactly $150,650) TripleBricksGames
RitualSummon older $10.99 267 76% 8.0k $88k (exactly $88,030) WhitePeach
Forest Heroes $9.99 278 83% 8.3k $83k (exactly $83,317) Hoochoo Game Studios
The Gate Must Stand $9.99 236 78% 7.1k $71k (exactly $70,729) Senmu Studio
Rise of a Legend · EA $17.99 49 77% 1.5k $26k (exactly $26,445) Masquarade, Nicholas St. Germain
EvoWars: New Era $8.99 25 72% 750 $6.7k (exactly $6,742) Night Steed Games
Crypt Keeper $9.99 20 100% 600 $6.0k (exactly $5,994) Viron Games
Rogue Citadel $9.99 15 86% 450 $4.5k (exactly $4,496) MalumGames
Crypt Crawler $7.99 15 100% 450 $3.6k (exactly $3,596) Wild Domain
Small Hero $0.99 78 85% 2.3k $2.3k (exactly $2,317) Small Hero

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