Do I ship it?

Games › Naval Combat › Naval Combat + Military

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Military Naval Combat game?

Naval Combat + Military

Of 37 developers who shipped a Military Naval 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.. 48 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×3.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $480. Revenue is up 70% on the market; 48 games are announced against 24 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 70% on the market, 48 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Naval Combat + Military
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 37
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $245k → $4.5k → $2.7k → $566k → $1.4k → $2.4k → $4.6k (still earning) → $719 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Naval Combat + Military: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 37
Bottom 30% $479 (exactly $479)
Median $2.2k (exactly $2,249)
Top 25% $17k (exactly $17,498)
Top 5% $9.2M (exactly $9,161,667)
Developers, 2 yr 37
Released games 121
Announced 48
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 up 70% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Naval Combat
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Military
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Naval Combat; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RTS, Strategy, Wargame
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $49.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $49.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 64% positive over 35,621 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $480, median $2.2k, 1 in 4 over $17k, 1 in 20 over $9.1M.

3 in 10 developers made under $480. 9 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 24 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Naval Combat with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + World War IIFair12 devs · median $2.7k · 11 announced
  2. + Bullet HellFair14 devs · median $1.1k · 16 announced
  3. + ArcadeLong shot21 devs · median $300 · 25 announced
  4. + Open WorldPoor odds26 devs · median $38k · 80 announced
  5. + CraftingPoor odds11 devs · median $38k · 21 announced
  6. + SandboxPoor odds15 devs · median $29k · 57 announced
  7. + BuildingPoor odds6 devs · median $29k · 28 announced
  8. + Base BuildingPoor odds12 devs · median $29k · 30 announced
  9. + RTSPoor odds20 devs · median $19k · 32 announced
  10. + Co-opPoor odds14 devs · median $17k · 25 announced
  11. + Online Co-OpPoor odds8 devs · median $17k · 28 announced
  12. + MedievalPoor odds8 devs · median $17k · 30 announced

All 54 pairs on the Naval Combat page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Broken Arrow 2025 · $39M UBOAT 2024 · $23M VTOL VR 2017 · $18M Sea Power : Naval Combat in the Missile Age 2024 · EA · $9.2M From the Depths 2020 · $8.3M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Broken Arrow $49.99 25,924 55% 778k $39M (exactly $38,878,223) Steel Balalaika
UBOAT older $29.99 25,568 83% 767k $23M (exactly $23,003,530) Deep Water Studio
VTOL VR older $29.99 19,885 98% 597k $18M (exactly $17,890,534) Boundless Dynamics, LLC
Sea Power : Naval Combat in the Missile Age · EA $49.99 6,109 90% 183k $9.2M (exactly $9,161,667) Triassic Games
From the Depths older $24.99 11,059 89% 332k $8.3M (exactly $8,290,932) Brilliant Skies Ltd.
Azur Lane Crosswave older $39.99 6,537 68% 196k $7.8M (exactly $7,842,439) IDEA FACTORY, COMPILE HEART, FELISTELLA
Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts older $34.99 6,664 62% 200k $7.0M (exactly $6,995,201) Game-Labs
Naval Action older $19.99 10,187 52% 306k $6.1M (exactly $6,109,144) Bermuda Computer Club
Cold Waters older $39.99 4,603 87% 138k $5.5M (exactly $5,522,219) Killerfish Games
Airships: Conquer the Skies older $24.99 6,197 95% 186k $4.6M (exactly $4,645,891) David Stark
Forefront $27.99 1,913 84% 57k $1.6M (exactly $1,606,346) Triangle Factory
Task Force Admiral - Vol.1: American Carrier Battles · EA $39.99 633 87% 19k $759k (exactly $759,410) Drydock Dreams Games
Modern Naval Warfare · EA $59.99 237 58% 7.1k $427k (exactly $426,529) Wave Ops
Rise of Piracy · EA $15.99 520 77% 16k $249k (exactly $249,444) IrishJohnGames
Silent Shark $17.99 125 98% 3.8k $67k (exactly $67,462) John Goering
City States: Medieval $19.99 48 68% 1.4k $29k (exactly $28,786) Reverie World Studios
Realms of Madness $15.99 39 89% 1.2k $19k (exactly $18,708) Robin van der Horst
Beach Invasion 1915-Gallipoli $7.99 73 71% 2.2k $17k (exactly $17,498) AIx2 Games

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.