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Should I ship an Incremental Turn-Based Combat game?
Turn-Based Combat + Incremental
Of 36 developers who shipped an Incremental Turn-Based Combat 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.. 44 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.6 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $100k, ×225 the market median. Revenue is down 40% on the market; 44 games are announced against 26 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,256) |
| Top 25% | $5.8k (exactly $5,750) |
| Top 5% | $107k (exactly $106,693) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 36 |
| Released games | 88 |
| Announced | 44 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 40% on the market, supply 160% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 22%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Turn-Based Combat
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Incremental
- effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Turn-Based Combat, Incremental; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Idler, Simulation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 3,732 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 44 games are announced against 26 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Turn-Based Combat with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + WuxiaStrong odds
- + Hack and SlashStrong odds
- + RomeFair
- + CookingFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + IdlerFair
- + DiceFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + SolitaireFair
Comparable games
Dragon Cliff 2018 · $2.3M 
Cauldron 2025 · $755k 
Escape Dungeon 2020 · $318k 
The Captain 2021 · $183k 
The Eastern Sacrifice 2025 · $107k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dragon Cliff | older | $9.99 | 7,679 88% | 230k | $2.3M (exactly $2,301,396) | Meta Interaction |
| | Cauldron | $14.99 | 1,678 92% | 50k | $755k (exactly $754,597) | SleepyDad Games | |
| | Escape Dungeon | older | $12.99 | 817 79% | 25k | $318k (exactly $318,385) | Hide Games |
| | The Captain | older | $19.99 | 305 92% | 9.2k | $183k (exactly $182,908) | Sysiac Games |
| | The Eastern Sacrifice | $9.99 | 356 55% | 11k | $107k (exactly $106,693) | 五条虾仁(5 shrimps) | |
 | 挂机手游模拟器 | $2.99 | 1,111 91% | 33k | $100k (exactly $99,657) | 天光 | |
 | Dwarf Shop | older | $9.99 | 101 72% | 3.0k | $30k (exactly $30,270) | Potion Junkies |
 | Sit-Back Attack | · EA | $8.99 | 110 78% | 3.3k | $30k (exactly $29,667) | Stapleton |
 | Magic Potion Explorer | older | $9.99 | 95 55% | 2.9k | $28k (exactly $28,472) | ARTIFACTS |
 | Idle Quest Simulator | $4.99 | 183 78% | 5.5k | $27k (exactly $27,395) | 所以然 | |
 | This Isn't Just Tower Defense | $6.99 | 122 61% | 3.7k | $26k (exactly $25,583) | Pri Games | |
 | 100FRIENDS | $9.99 | 32 87% | 960 | $9.6k (exactly $9,590) | TWIN PIXELS | |
 | NTR LIFE | $3.99 | 70 74% | 2.1k | $8.4k (exactly $8,379) | Jpegsama | |
 | Balaball | $5.99 | 32 96% | 960 | $5.8k (exactly $5,750) | ZHR | |
 | Cradle of the Dark Brood | $4.99 | 38 78% | 1.1k | $5.7k (exactly $5,689) | RyuseGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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