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Should I ship a Hacking Tactical game?
Tactical + Hacking
Only 18 developers shipped a Hacking Tactical game 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, 868-BACK, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 35 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $630, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90; 1 in 20 cleared $73k, ×117 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 35 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $629 (exactly $629) |
| Top 25% | $1.6k (exactly $1,574) |
| Top 5% | $73k (exactly $73,163) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 43 |
| Announced | 35 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 20% on the market, supply 160% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Logic, Physics
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Hand-drawn
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 97% positive over 219 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. All of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 35 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + Farming SimFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
Comparable games
Call of Duty®: Ghosts 2014 · $16M 
Duskers 2016 · $1.4M 
JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action 2022 · $119k 
SOLAS 128 2021 · $82k 
868-BACK 2026 · $73k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Call of Duty®: Ghosts | older | $39.99 | 12,976 66% | 389k | $16M (exactly $15,567,307) | Infinity Ward |
| | Duskers | older | $19.99 | 2,304 90% | 69k | $1.4M (exactly $1,381,709) | Misfits Attic |
| | JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action | older | $19.99 | 199 95% | 6.0k | $119k (exactly $119,340) | Samurai Punk |
| | SOLAS 128 | older | $14.99 | 183 95% | 5.5k | $82k (exactly $82,295) | Amicable Animal |
| | 868-BACK | $19.99 | 122 98% | 3.7k | $73k (exactly $73,163) | Michael Brough | |
 | Cyber Ops | older | $14.99 | 108 42% | 3.2k | $49k (exactly $48,568) | Octeto Studios |
 | Hacker Evolution | older | $2.99 | 417 71% | 13k | $37k (exactly $37,405) | exosyphen studios |
 | Darknet | older | $14.99 | 74 86% | 2.2k | $33k (exactly $33,278) | E McNeill |
 | City Eye | older | $9.99 | 73 32% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,878) | · |
 | VR Invaders | older | $17.99 | 32 78% | 960 | $17k (exactly $17,270) | MY.GAMES |
 | False Alarm | $9.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) | Scattered Discs | |
 | corpo/ghost | $14.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $2.7k (exactly $2,698) | Interleaved Systems | |
 | PolyCrime | · EA | $9.99 | 6 66% | 180 | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) | FoxGameDev |
 | CPU Invaders - Aim Hero | $0.99 | 53 100% | 1.6k | $1.6k (exactly $1,574) | Microblast Games | |
 | ESC (Electronics Security Company) | $9.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | Electronics Security Company | |
 | GRID/ | $4.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | NoeNoe Games | |
 | Disintegral | $11.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $719 (exactly $719) | Will Sykes Games | |
 | NETBREAK | $6.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $629 (exactly $629) | Splice | |
 | SPIN Protocol | $3.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $479 (exactly $479) | Diego Spartano, Sebastian Spartano |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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