Games › Wargame › Wargame + Mechs
Should I ship a Mech Wargame?
Wargame + Mechs
Of 22 developers who shipped a Mech Wargame 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.. 53 more are announced, ×4.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $97k, ×156 the market median. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 53 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,347) |
| Top 25% | $33k (exactly $32,526) |
| Top 5% | $98k (exactly $97,751) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 22 |
| Released games | 59 |
| Announced | 53 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 30% on the market, supply 20% 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.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Wargame; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, Combat
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 18,710 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 53 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Wargame with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Inventory ManagementFair
- + Local MultiplayerFair
- + NavalFair
- + TabletopFair
- + LogicFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + StealthPoor odds
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
Comparable games
Mechabellum 2024 · $8.0M 
Airships: Conquer the Skies 2018 · $4.6M 
Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance 2024 · $4.1M 
Chaos Galaxy 2 2023 · $182k 
Kaiju Wars 2022 · $137k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Mechabellum | $14.99 | 17,856 84% | 536k | $8.0M (exactly $8,029,843) | Game River | |
| | Airships: Conquer the Skies | older | $24.99 | 6,197 95% | 186k | $4.6M (exactly $4,645,891) | David Stark |
| | Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance | older | $39.99 | 3,395 82% | 102k | $4.1M (exactly $4,072,982) | Slitherine Ltd. |
| | Chaos Galaxy 2 | older | $19.99 | 304 82% | 9.1k | $182k (exactly $182,309) | Han Zhiyu |
| | Kaiju Wars | older | $19.99 | 229 76% | 6.9k | $137k (exactly $137,331) | Foolish Mortals Games, Michael Long |
 | Codex of Victory | older | $14.99 | 260 69% | 7.8k | $117k (exactly $116,922) | Ino-Co Plus |
 | Death Ring: Second Impact | · EA | $19.99 | 163 78% | 4.9k | $98k (exactly $97,751) | Rouge Mecha |
 | OVRLRD | · EA older | $29.99 | 96 85% | 2.9k | $86k (exactly $86,371) | OVRLRD |
 | TINY METAL: FULL METAL RUMBLE | older | $14.99 | 177 80% | 5.3k | $80k (exactly $79,597) | AREA 35, Inc. |
 | Bonaparte - A Mechanized Revolution | $24.99 | 72 68% | 2.2k | $54k (exactly $53,978) | Studio Imugi | |
 | Dawn of Anarchy | $13.99 | 125 84% | 3.8k | $52k (exactly $52,462) | Quacky Games | |
 | Age Of Warbots | $9.99 | 160 83% | 4.8k | $48k (exactly $47,952) | VDimension | |
 | ShellMobile: Titan Rampart | $5.99 | 181 97% | 5.4k | $33k (exactly $32,526) | 红景天娱乐 | |
 | WARSHIFT 2 | $19.99 | 54 70% | 1.6k | $32k (exactly $32,384) | Cyril Megem | |
 | Tactical Annihilation | $15.99 | 56 98% | 1.7k | $27k (exactly $26,863) | B.G. Game Studio | |
 | WarOS | · EA | $19.99 | 29 72% | 870 | $17k (exactly $17,391) | The7 Studio |
 | UniWar | $7.99 | 14 71% | 420 | $3.4k (exactly $3,356) | Spooky House |
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.