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Should I ship an Idler Tactical game?
Tactical + Idler
Of 56 developers who shipped an Idler 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.. 88 more are announced, ×2.1 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 $360; 1 in 20 cleared $38k, ×61 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 88 games are announced against 41 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $898 (exactly $898) |
| Top 25% | $4.4k (exactly $4,429) |
| Top 5% | $38k (exactly $38,024) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 56 |
| Released games | 129 |
| Announced | 88 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 35% on the market, supply 155% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, 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, Idler; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Combat, Simulation
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 1,541 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 19 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 88 games are announced against 41 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 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
Disgaea 6 Complete 2022 · $696k 
Microcosmum: survival of cells 2015 · $268k 
Legendary Hoplite 2024 · $151k 
Orc Incremental 2026 · $106k 
All Aboard! The Train Defense Express 2025 · $57k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Disgaea 6 Complete | older | $59.99 | 387 63% | 12k | $696k (exactly $696,484) | Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. |
| | Microcosmum: survival of cells | older | $7.99 | 1,117 80% | 34k | $268k (exactly $267,745) | Satur Entertainment |
| | Legendary Hoplite | older | $14.99 | 335 63% | 10k | $151k (exactly $150,650) | TripleBricksGames |
| | Orc Incremental | $7.99 | 444 75% | 13k | $106k (exactly $106,427) | Nice Ride | |
| | All Aboard! The Train Defense Express | $4.99 | 379 84% | 11k | $57k (exactly $56,736) | Likadev | |
 | Siegeturtle | $4.99 | 254 86% | 7.6k | $38k (exactly $38,024) | YYZ Studio | |
 | Trade Bots: A Technical Analysis Simulation | older | $11.99 | 100 63% | 3.0k | $36k (exactly $35,970) | Cinq-Mars Media |
 | Next Reign: Kingdom | $4.99 | 125 92% | 3.8k | $19k (exactly $18,712) | Tiny Tulip Games | |
 | Praise Dead | older | $4.99 | 118 70% | 3.5k | $18k (exactly $17,665) | Intrepid Marmot |
 | Chaos Entropy | $11.00 | 48 89% | 1.4k | $16k (exactly $15,840) | MILLIDIA | |
 | Idle Crown | $3.99 | 130 45% | 3.9k | $16k (exactly $15,561) | Idle Crown | |
 | The Dawn: Sniper's Way | $24.99 | 18 22% | 540 | $13k (exactly $13,495) | PHOSPHORUS GAMES | |
 | Everfall 2: Idle Dungeon RPG | $9.99 | 42 76% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $12,587) | GameDevJoey | |
 | Battle Synth | $4.99 | 56 92% | 1.7k | $8.4k (exactly $8,383) | Cow Games | |
 | Fire at Campsite | $5.99 | 45 82% | 1.4k | $8.1k (exactly $8,086) | Salvador Palma |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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