Games › Tactical › Tactical + Investigation
Should I ship an Investigation Tactical game?
Tactical + Investigation
Of 32 developers who shipped an Investigation 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.. 48 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $630, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $300k, ×488 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 48 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $629 (exactly $629) |
| Top 25% | $4.7k (exactly $4,672) |
| Top 5% | $307k (exactly $306,627) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 32 |
| Released games | 75 |
| Announced | 48 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 85% on the market, supply as many developers as 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
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Investigation
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical, Investigation; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Action, Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Dark
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 3,947 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. Nearly all of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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
Phasmophobia 2020 · EA · $410M 
Demonologist 2023 · $11M 
At Dead Of Night 2020 · $1.6M 
Whisper Mountain Outbreak 2025 · EA · $580k 
Sigma Theory: Global Cold War 2019 · $481k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Phasmophobia | · EA older | $19.99 | 684,009 94% | 21M | $410M (exactly $410,200,197) | Kinetic Games |
| | Demonologist | older | $19.99 | 18,886 85% | 567k | $11M (exactly $11,325,934) | Clock Wizard Games |
| | At Dead Of Night | older | $15.99 | 3,289 94% | 99k | $1.6M (exactly $1,577,733) | Baggy Cat Ltd. |
| | Whisper Mountain Outbreak | · EA | $7.99 | 2,421 84% | 73k | $580k (exactly $580,314) | Toge Productions |
| | Sigma Theory: Global Cold War | older | $17.99 | 892 77% | 27k | $481k (exactly $481,412) | Mi-Clos Studio, Goblinz Studio, FibreTi… (Mi-Clos Studio, Goblinz Studio, FibreTigre) |
 | Responding | · EA | $24.99 | 409 45% | 12k | $307k (exactly $306,627) | Visionary Studios |
 | Project Unknown | $9.99 | 776 81% | 23k | $233k (exactly $232,567) | PsychoRavens | |
 | Lost Dimension | older | $24.99 | 221 72% | 6.6k | $166k (exactly $165,684) | FURYU Corporation |
 | INVITATION To FEAR | older | $4.99 | 420 62% | 13k | $63k (exactly $62,874) | CHEST BOX |
 | Misery Mansion | older | $17.99 | 87 72% | 2.6k | $47k (exactly $46,954) | Manic Mice |
 | Emergency Call 112 - The Attack Squad | $14.99 | 86 48% | 2.6k | $39k (exactly $38,674) | Crenetic | |
 | Deadly Quiet | $9.75 | 89 55% | 2.7k | $26k (exactly $26,032) | Tarba Paul Cornel, Abdul Rafy | |
 | Bounty Trail | $6.99 | 84 52% | 2.5k | $18k (exactly $17,615) | September Games | |
 | Victor's Test Night: REVES | $7.99 | 35 97% | 1.1k | $8.4k (exactly $8,390) | 727 Not Hound | |
 | Fullbright Presents TOILET SPIDERS | $5.99 | 26 73% | 780 | $4.7k (exactly $4,672) | Fullbright | |
 | Revolver Gambit | · EA | $9.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) | Welch Antony |
 | Red Core Division | · EA | $4.99 | 13 30% | 390 | $1.9k (exactly $1,946) | YBT |
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.