Games › Tactical › Tactical + Modern
Should I ship a Modern-Day Tactical game?
Tactical + Modern
Of 74 developers who shipped a Modern-Day 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.. 114 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $6.4M, ×10292 the market median. Revenue is up 180% on the market; 114 games are announced against 42 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $629 (exactly $629) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,936) |
| Top 25% | $41k (exactly $40,892) |
| Top 5% | $6.5M (exactly $6,463,164) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 74 |
| Released games | 202 |
| Announced | 114 |
| 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 180% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, 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
- Tactical; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Combat
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 66% positive over 394,457 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 8 in 10 of the 35 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 114 games are announced against 42 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different setting or mood, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Battlefield™ 6 | $69.99 | 295,442 63% | 8.9M | $620M (exactly $620,339,567) | Battlefield Studios | |
| | Ready or Not | older | $49.99 | 265,219 79% | 8.0M | $398M (exactly $397,748,934) | VOID Interactive |
| | Squad | older | $39.99 | 180,505 82% | 5.4M | $217M (exactly $216,551,848) | Offworld |
| | Gray Zone Warfare | · EA older | $39.99 | 69,146 72% | 2.1M | $83M (exactly $82,954,456) | MADFINGER Games, a.s. |
| | Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® | older | $59.99 | 43,229 79% | 1.3M | $78M (exactly $77,799,231) | Infinity Ward, Beenox, High Moon Studio… (Infinity Ward, Beenox, High Moon Studios, Raven Software) |
| | WARDOGS | · EA | $39.99 | 58,250 81% | 1.7M | $70M (exactly $69,882,525) | BULKHEAD |
| | Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II | older | $69.99 | 26,543 45% | 796k | $56M (exactly $55,732,337) | Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Beenox,… (Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Beenox, Treyarch, High Moon Studios, Sledgehammer Games, Demonware, Toys for Bob) |
| | Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® III | older | $69.99 | 20,701 47% | 621k | $43M (exactly $43,465,890) | Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch, Infinity… (Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Beenox, Raven Software, High Moon Studios, Demonware) |
| | Broken Arrow | $49.99 | 25,924 55% | 778k | $39M (exactly $38,878,223) | Steel Balalaika | |
| | Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 | older | $39.99 | 12,781 83% | 383k | $15M (exactly $15,333,366) | CI Games |
| | Onward | $24.99 | 8,621 69% | 259k | $6.5M (exactly $6,463,164) | Downpour Interactive | |
| | Forefront | $27.99 | 1,913 84% | 57k | $1.6M (exactly $1,606,346) | Triangle Factory | |
| | Ukrainian Warfare: Gostomel Heroes | $14.99 | 1,921 90% | 58k | $864k (exactly $863,874) | Cats Who Play | |
| | Dagger Directive | $19.99 | 802 83% | 24k | $481k (exactly $480,959) | Arcane Alpacas LLC | |
| | Alpha Response | · EA | $19.99 | 788 77% | 24k | $473k (exactly $472,564) | Ultimo Ratio Games |
| | Modern Naval Warfare | · EA | $59.99 | 237 58% | 7.1k | $427k (exactly $426,529) | Wave Ops |
| | Worldwide Rush | $19.99 | 559 77% | 17k | $335k (exactly $335,232) | Memel Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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