Games › Tactical › Tactical + Incremental
Should I ship an Incremental Tactical game?
Tactical + Incremental
Of 87 developers who shipped an Incremental 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.. 122 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 57 developers shipped in the last year and 122 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $148 (exactly $148) |
|---|---|
| Median | $359 (exactly $359) |
| Top 25% | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) |
| Top 5% | $19k (exactly $18,712) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 87 |
| Released games | 218 |
| Announced | 122 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 260% on the market, supply 80% 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.
- Tactical
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical, Incremental; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Idler, Management
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $7.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $7.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 1,697 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. Nearly all of the 41 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 122 games are announced against 57 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
Orc Incremental 2026 · $106k 
Reprisal Universe 2014 · $71k 
Fatal Countdown - immoral List of Desires 2024 · $65k 
All Aboard! The Train Defense Express 2025 · $57k 
Calculate It 2024 · EA · $55k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Orc Incremental | $7.99 | 444 75% | 13k | $106k (exactly $106,427) | Nice Ride | |
| | Reprisal Universe | older | $6.99 | 337 75% | 10k | $71k (exactly $70,669) | electrolyte |
| | Fatal Countdown - immoral List of Desires | older | $10.99 | 197 76% | 5.9k | $65k (exactly $64,951) | Secret Garden |
| | All Aboard! The Train Defense Express | $4.99 | 379 84% | 11k | $57k (exactly $56,736) | Likadev | |
| | Calculate It | · EA older | $6.99 | 264 87% | 7.9k | $55k (exactly $55,361) | SVGames |
 | SYMMETRY | older | $11.99 | 147 53% | 4.4k | $53k (exactly $52,876) | Sleepless Clinic |
 | Siegeturtle | $4.99 | 254 86% | 7.6k | $38k (exactly $38,024) | YYZ Studio | |
 | Bomb The Monsters! | older | $4.99 | 221 77% | 6.6k | $33k (exactly $33,084) | Finalboss game studio |
 | Furry Sex: Pirates 🏴☠️ | older | $6.99 | 104 67% | 3.1k | $22k (exactly $21,809) | Furry Tails |
 | Destroy! Mosaic! | $4.99 | 135 77% | 4.1k | $20k (exactly $20,210) | 悠悠幽靈工作室 | |
 | Next Reign: Kingdom | $4.99 | 125 92% | 3.8k | $19k (exactly $18,712) | Tiny Tulip Games | |
 | Bauhaus Bonk | $7.99 | 73 100% | 2.2k | $17k (exactly $17,498) | Spoonful Games | |
 | Idle Crown | $3.99 | 130 45% | 3.9k | $16k (exactly $15,561) | Idle Crown | |
 | Keytamine | $7.99 | 38 81% | 1.1k | $9.1k (exactly $9,109) | Nabokov | |
 | BOYKISSER IS COMING | $2.99 | 79 97% | 2.4k | $7.1k (exactly $7,086) | akhsotoen | |
 | Watt's the Limit? | $4.99 | 40 80% | 1.2k | $6.0k (exactly $5,988) | Tobo Games |
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.