Do I ship it?

Games › Naval Combat › Naval Combat + Tactical

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Naval Combat Tactical game?

Naval Combat + Tactical

Of 29 developers who shipped a Naval Combat 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.. 56 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $960, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×2558 the market median. Revenue is up 305% on the market; 56 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 305% on the market, 56 announced, ×3.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Naval Combat + Tactical
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 29
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.1k → $32k → $2.4k → $110k → $150 → $4.6k (still earning) → $719 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Naval Combat + Tactical: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 29
Bottom 30% $239 (exactly $239)
Median $955 (exactly $955)
Top 25% $19k (exactly $18,708)
Top 5% $1.6M (exactly $1,606,346)
Developers, 2 yr 29
Released games 90
Announced 56
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 305% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 20%, 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
Tactical
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, Tactical; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, RTS, Wargame
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $49.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Realistic, 3D
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 58% positive over 29,053 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $960, 1 in 4 over $18k, 1 in 20 over $1.6M.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Naval Combat with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + World War IIFair12 devs · median $2.7k · 11 announced
  2. + MilitaryFair37 devs · median $2.2k · 48 announced
  3. + Bullet HellFair14 devs · median $1.1k · 16 announced
  4. + ArcadeLong shot21 devs · median $300 · 25 announced
  5. + Open WorldPoor odds26 devs · median $38k · 80 announced
  6. + CraftingPoor odds11 devs · median $38k · 21 announced
  7. + SandboxPoor odds15 devs · median $29k · 57 announced
  8. + BuildingPoor odds6 devs · median $29k · 28 announced
  9. + Base BuildingPoor odds12 devs · median $29k · 30 announced
  10. + RTSPoor odds20 devs · median $19k · 32 announced
  11. + Co-opPoor odds14 devs · median $17k · 25 announced
  12. + Online Co-OpPoor odds8 devs · median $17k · 28 announced

All 54 pairs on the Naval Combat page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Broken Arrow 2025 · $39M Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 2019 · $5.8M Cold Waters 2017 · $5.5M Forefront 2026 · $1.6M ICBM 2020 · $993k
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
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 older $19.99 9,701 74% 291k $5.8M (exactly $5,817,690) Tindalos Interactive
Cold Waters older $39.99 4,603 87% 138k $5.5M (exactly $5,522,219) Killerfish Games
Forefront $27.99 1,913 84% 57k $1.6M (exactly $1,606,346) Triangle Factory
ICBM older $19.99 1,655 91% 50k $993k (exactly $992,503) SoftWarWare, K-Project
Abandon Ship older $24.99 1,151 71% 35k $863k (exactly $862,905) Fireblade Software
Carrier Command: Gaea Mission older $32.99 805 51% 24k $797k (exactly $796,708) Bohemia Interactive
Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter older $29.99 852 73% 26k $767k (exactly $766,544) Iron Wolf Studio S.A.
Task Force Admiral - Vol.1: American Carrier Battles · EA $39.99 633 87% 19k $759k (exactly $759,410) Drydock Dreams Games
Aircraft Carrier Survival older $19.99 1,176 59% 35k $705k (exactly $705,247) Gambit Games Studio
Modern Naval Warfare · EA $59.99 237 58% 7.1k $427k (exactly $426,529) Wave Ops
Victory at Sea Atlantic - World War II Naval Warfare $39.99 92 60% 2.8k $110k (exactly $110,372) Evil Twin Artworks
Silent Shark $17.99 125 98% 3.8k $67k (exactly $67,462) John Goering
Dread Admiral $13.99 59 89% 1.8k $25k (exactly $24,762) Tescrin Games
Realms of Madness $15.99 39 89% 1.2k $19k (exactly $18,708) Robin van der Horst
FuJianStrike $6.99 22 100% 660 $4.6k (exactly $4,613) Mithril_055
A-Spec First Assault $14.99 9 55% 270 $4.0k (exactly $4,047) Digitum Software

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