Games › Tactical › Tactical + Local Multiplayer
Should I ship a Local Multiplayer Tactical game?
Tactical + Local Multiplayer
Of 93 developers who shipped a Local Multiplayer 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.. 124 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $60; 1 in 20 cleared $100k, ×172 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 124 games are announced against 60 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) |
| Top 5% | $108k (exactly $107,946) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 93 |
| Released games | 340 |
| Announced | 124 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 25% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, 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
- Local Multiplayer
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical, Local Multiplayer; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, PvP, Simulation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 2,865 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. Nearly all of the 45 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 124 games are announced against 60 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Songs of Conquest | older | $29.99 | 12,127 85% | 364k | $11M (exactly $10,910,662) | Lavapotion |
| | Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI with Power Up Kit | older | $39.99 | 3,754 92% | 113k | $4.5M (exactly $4,503,674) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
| | Door Kickers: Action Squad | older | $13.99 | 8,778 95% | 263k | $3.7M (exactly $3,684,127) | PixelShard, KillHouse Games |
| | Football, Tactics & Glory | older | $24.99 | 3,998 87% | 120k | $3.0M (exactly $2,997,301) | Creoteam |
| | Might & Magic: Heroes VI | older | $9.99 | 8,545 47% | 256k | $2.6M (exactly $2,560,936) | Blackhole |
| | Worms Revolution | older | $14.99 | 5,664 86% | 170k | $2.5M (exactly $2,547,101) | Team17 Digital Ltd |
| | Wargroove | older | $19.99 | 4,015 83% | 120k | $2.4M (exactly $2,407,796) | Chucklefish |
| | Worms Reloaded | older | $19.99 | 3,378 86% | 101k | $2.0M (exactly $2,025,787) | Team17 Digital Ltd |
| | Sid Meier's Civilization® IV | older | $19.99 | 2,789 92% | 84k | $1.7M (exactly $1,672,563) | Firaxis Games |
| | Heroes of Might & Magic V | older | $9.99 | 3,983 88% | 119k | $1.2M (exactly $1,193,705) | Nival |
| | Rogue Point | $19.99 | 940 63% | 28k | $564k (exactly $563,718) | Crowbar Collective | |
| | The Conquest of Go | $14.99 | 581 94% | 17k | $261k (exactly $261,276) | Wolfey Studios | |
| | Pure Badminton | $19.99 | 323 81% | 9.7k | $194k (exactly $193,703) | DS SOFT | |
| | Pure Pool Pro | $24.99 | 206 66% | 6.2k | $154k (exactly $154,438) | Rockwater | |
| | Clutchtime™: Basketball Deckbuilder | $19.99 | 180 77% | 5.4k | $108k (exactly $107,946) | Bigosaur | |
| | DSS 2: War Industry | $17.99 | 183 83% | 5.5k | $99k (exactly $98,765) | vikingfabian | |
| | Cascadia | $14.99 | 210 98% | 6.3k | $94k (exactly $94,437) | Dire Wolf | |
| | Tipston Salvage | $16.99 | 80 97% | 2.4k | $41k (exactly $40,776) | Pontus Karlsson | |
| | Warhammer: Dark Omen (Classic) | $9.99 | 132 91% | 4.0k | $40k (exactly $39,560) | Mindscape | |
| | Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge 4 | $39.99 | 30 70% | 900 | $36k (exactly $35,991) | Glinda 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.