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Should I ship an Incremental Tactical RPG?
Tactical RPG + Incremental
Of 25 developers who shipped an Incremental 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.. 22 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $420 in the last 2 years and $480 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 17 developers shipped in the last year and 22 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $30 (exactly $30) |
|---|---|
| Median | $419 (exactly $419) |
| Top 25% | $2.2k (exactly $2,156) |
| Top 5% | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 47 |
| Announced | 22 |
| 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 10% on the market, supply 115% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, 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
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Tactical RPG, Incremental; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, RPG, Strategy
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $8.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $8.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 1,815 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 22 games are announced against 17 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 
NecroAttack！ 2023 · $72k 
Tap Heroes 2015 · $36k 
The Dragonhood 2024 · $20k 
Royal Merchant 2023 · $11k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Cauldron | $14.99 | 1,678 92% | 50k | $755k (exactly $754,597) | SleepyDad Games | |
| | NecroAttack！ | older | $9.99 | 241 72% | 7.2k | $72k (exactly $72,228) | VirusSea |
| | Tap Heroes | older | $2.99 | 402 67% | 12k | $36k (exactly $36,059) | VaragtP |
| | The Dragonhood | older | $7.99 | 83 73% | 2.5k | $20k (exactly $19,895) | Scrambled Games |
| | Royal Merchant | older | $4.99 | 75 62% | 2.3k | $11k (exactly $11,228) | Badim |
 | 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 |
 | DREAM TIME | older | $7.99 | 23 100% | 690 | $5.5k (exactly $5,513) | AI mainland Game studio |
 | 江湖群雄传 | older | $9.99 | 12 25% | 360 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | 黑白牛游戏 |
 | 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 |
 | The Lands of Hyberian | $4.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | SkyWeb Technologies LLC | |
 | Path of the Bogatyr | · EA | $5.99 | 12 100% | 360 | $2.2k (exactly $2,156) | RUzura Interactive |
 | Village Defenders | $2.99 | 16 31% | 480 | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) | Uberbax-Gaming | |
 | Expedition Chronicles | $6.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $839 (exactly $839) | GameOn Production KZ | |
 | Pixel Chess Idle RPG | $4.99 | 4 50% | 120 | $599 (exactly $599) | SHIFT. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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