Games › Tactical › Tactical + Heist
Should I ship a Heist Tactical game?
Tactical + Heist
Only 14 developers shipped a Heist 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, Relooted, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 45 more are announced, ×4.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $60; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×184 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 45 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $718 (exactly $718) |
| Top 25% | $2.7k (exactly $2,698) |
| Top 5% | $116k (exactly $115,573) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 62 |
| Announced | 45 |
| 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 70% on the market, supply 150% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 24%, 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; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Puzzle, Stealth
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Dark Humor, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 433 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 45 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.5 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
PAYDAY 2 2013 · $134M 
PAYDAY 3 2023 · $44M 
METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN 2015 · $44M 
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 2017 · $9.1M 
PAYDAY™ The Heist 2011 · $6.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | PAYDAY 2 | older | $9.99 | 445,531 89% | 13M | $134M (exactly $133,525,641) | OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio., Sidetr… (OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio., Sidetrack Games) |
| | PAYDAY 3 | older | $29.99 | 49,305 45% | 1.5M | $44M (exactly $44,359,708) | Starbreeze Studios |
| | METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN | older | $19.99 | 73,137 91% | 2.2M | $44M (exactly $43,860,259) | KONAMI |
| | Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 | older | $19.99 | 15,133 67% | 454k | $9.1M (exactly $9,075,260) | CI Games |
| | PAYDAY™ The Heist | older | $9.99 | 21,870 92% | 656k | $6.6M (exactly $6,554,439) | OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio. |
 | Crime Boss: Rockay City | older | $19.99 | 8,553 68% | 257k | $5.1M (exactly $5,129,234) | INGAME STUDIOS |
 | SteamWorld Heist II | older | $29.99 | 2,201 93% | 66k | $2.0M (exactly $1,980,240) | Thunderful Development |
 | Perfect Heist 2 | older | $9.99 | 3,711 94% | 111k | $1.1M (exactly $1,112,187) | yeswecamp |
 | Picklock | older | $19.99 | 386 86% | 12k | $231k (exactly $231,484) | Creepy Brothers |
 | The Masterplan | older | $19.99 | 374 62% | 11k | $224k (exactly $224,288) | Shark Punch |
 | Relooted | $14.99 | 257 87% | 7.7k | $116k (exactly $115,573) | Nyamakop | |
 | Dragon's Chronicles~暗黒大魔王と北斗の剣(つるぎ)~ | $12.99 | 128 85% | 3.8k | $50k (exactly $49,882) | スタジオあっとほ～む | |
 | 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 | |
 | Bratki | $5.99 | 11 72% | 330 | $2.0k (exactly $1,977) | VZLab | |
 | PolyCrime | · EA | $9.99 | 6 66% | 180 | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) | FoxGameDev |
 | Smoke Shop Simulator | · EA | $3.99 | 6 0% | 180 | $718 (exactly $718) | Anka Games |
 | Heist | $15.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $480 (exactly $480) | anl studios | |
 | Another Day Another Dollar | $4.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $449 (exactly $449) | 810 Game Studio | |
 | Withdrawal | · EA | $1.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $60 (exactly $60) | arijxn |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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