Games › Tactical › Tactical + Hidden Object
Should I ship a Hidden Object Tactical game?
Tactical + Hidden Object
Of 32 developers who shipped a Hidden Object Tactical game 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.. 49 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.1k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×179 the market median. Revenue is up 350% on the market; 49 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.1k (exactly $1,078) |
| Top 25% | $3.3k (exactly $3,293) |
| Top 5% | $113k (exactly $112,672) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 32 |
| Released games | 85 |
| Announced | 49 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 350% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tactical
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Hidden Object
- effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical, Hidden Object; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Collectathon, Puzzle, Simulation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $7.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $7.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 25,327 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. All of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 49 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different second tag, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library! | $5.99 | 24,497 94% | 735k | $4.4M (exactly $4,402,111) | ArtRising | |
| | Shelves and Sorcery: Tidy Up the Enchanted Shop | $5.99 | 627 93% | 19k | $113k (exactly $112,672) | Teddy Bear Games LLC | |
| | Era of Miracles | older | $29.99 | 106 75% | 3.2k | $95k (exactly $95,368) | Argentum Gaming |
| | ReRoad | older | $14.99 | 104 74% | 3.1k | $47k (exactly $46,769) | Rabbithole Games |
| | Kingdom of Wreck Business | older | $9.99 | 127 31% | 3.8k | $38k (exactly $38,062) | WarZoneLab |
| | Car Drive | older | $44.99 | 14 64% | 420 | $19k (exactly $18,896) | kovalevviktor |
| | Vandals | older | $4.99 | 81 76% | 2.4k | $12k (exactly $12,126) | Cosmografik, Novelab, Ex Nihilo, ARTE F… (Cosmografik, Novelab, Ex Nihilo, ARTE France) |
| | Pixel Pirate | older | $24.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $10k (exactly $10,496) | Stas Paty9mkin |
| | Seven Doors | older | $4.99 | 70 64% | 2.1k | $10k (exactly $10,479) | Indigo Studios - Interactive Stories |
| | Halt | older | $4.99 | 60 70% | 1.8k | $9.0k (exactly $8,982) | Nightmare Ink Publishing |
| | FolkOrigin | $7.99 | 36 88% | 1.1k | $8.6k (exactly $8,629) | LukaszD | |
| | Schoolgirl Card Pull Simulator | $6.99 | 34 61% | 1.0k | $7.1k (exactly $7,130) | Violet Soft | |
| | The Legend of Shiande | $2.99 | 46 100% | 1.4k | $4.1k (exactly $4,126) | Thales Caus | |
| | Post Office: Tidy Up! | $4.99 | 26 80% | 780 | $3.9k (exactly $3,892) | Mao Den Games | |
| | Drag'N Dungeon | $9.99 | 11 90% | 330 | $3.3k (exactly $3,297) | Demon Girl | |
| | Package Piles: Tidy Up The Warehouse! | $4.99 | 22 95% | 660 | $3.3k (exactly $3,293) | Spectra Forge | |
| | Doggy Up! | $3.99 | 20 90% | 600 | $2.4k (exactly $2,394) | Feas | |
| | Snemovna | · EA | $7.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $1.9k (exactly $1,918) | Richard Haraším |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.