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Should I ship an Idler Tactical RPG?
Tactical RPG + Idler
Of 24 developers who shipped an Idler Tactical RPG 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.. 26 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, ×2.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $20k, ×32 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 26 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) |
| Top 25% | $6.0k (exactly $5,992) |
| Top 5% | $20k (exactly $20,380) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 24 |
| Released games | 58 |
| Announced | 26 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 down 35% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 26%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tactical RPG
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Idler
- effort 1 / 10 · high · number growth curves and a UI
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Tactical RPG, Idler; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Strategy, Auto Battler
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 1,965 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 7 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 26 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Tactical RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + Space SimFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
Cauldron 2025 · $755k 
Disgaea 6 Complete 2022 · $696k 
👑 Idle Calibur 👑（选王之剑） 2022 · $298k 
Hero Tale 2024 · $63k 
Tap Heroes 2015 · $36k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Cauldron | $14.99 | 1,678 92% | 50k | $755k (exactly $754,597) | SleepyDad Games | |
| | Disgaea 6 Complete | older | $59.99 | 387 63% | 12k | $696k (exactly $696,484) | Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. |
| | 👑 Idle Calibur 👑（选王之剑） | older | $7.99 | 1,242 85% | 37k | $298k (exactly $297,707) | 绝汪 |
| | Hero Tale | older | $4.99 | 421 68% | 13k | $63k (exactly $63,024) | Weird Johnny Studio |
| | Tap Heroes | older | $2.99 | 402 67% | 12k | $36k (exactly $36,059) | VaragtP |
 | Elemental Master: Heroes Assemble | $9.99 | 68 50% | 2.0k | $20k (exactly $20,380) | DeepDream Studio | |
 | Delven | · EA | $9.99 | 51 90% | 1.5k | $15k (exactly $15,285) | NikZ |
 | Everfall 2: Idle Dungeon RPG | $9.99 | 42 76% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $12,587) | GameDevJoey | |
 | Royal Merchant | older | $4.99 | 75 62% | 2.3k | $11k (exactly $11,228) | Badim |
 | 无限投影2 | older | $3.99 | 75 41% | 2.3k | $9.0k (exactly $8,978) | A2 Game Studio |
 | 鸿运修仙传 | $5.99 | 34 76% | 1.0k | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) | 玉米工作室 | |
 | Nuice Industries | · EA | $7.99 | 25 96% | 750 | $6.0k (exactly $5,992) | CastleWind |
 | Everfall: Idle Dungeon RPG | $4.99 | 30 33% | 900 | $4.5k (exactly $4,491) | GameDevJoey | |
 | Idle Demon Summoner | $6.00 | 16 62% | 480 | $2.9k (exactly $2,880) | Chrio Games | |
 | HeroInc | · EA | $8.99 | 10 90% | 300 | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) | Nue Games |
 | Brominion | $7.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $2.6k (exactly $2,637) | Hyralism |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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