Games › Turn-Based Combat › Turn-Based Combat + Perma Death
Should I ship a Perma Death Turn-Based Combat game?
Turn-Based Combat + Perma Death
Of 131 developers who shipped a Perma Death Turn-Based 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.. 272 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.9k, ×8.2 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $330k, ×708 the market median. Revenue is up 40% on the market; 272 games are announced against 88 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $629 (exactly $629) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.9k (exactly $3,897) |
| Top 25% | $25k (exactly $24,762) |
| Top 5% | $336k (exactly $336,432) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 131 |
| Released games | 332 |
| Announced | 272 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 40% on the market, supply 105% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Turn-Based Combat
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Perma Death
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Turn-Based Combat, Perma Death; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelike, Turn-Based Tactics
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 11,891 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $630. 7 in 10 of the 46 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 272 games are announced against 88 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Turn-Based Combat with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + WuxiaStrong odds
- + Hack and SlashStrong odds
- + RomeFair
- + CookingFair
- + UndergroundFair
- + IdlerFair
- + DiceFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + SolitaireFair
Comparable games
Darkest Dungeon® 2016 · $106M 
XCOM® 2 2016 · $48M 
Darkest Dungeon® II 2023 · $29M 
Peglin 2024 · $10M 
The Last Spell 2023 · $9.9M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Darkest Dungeon® | older | $24.99 | 140,790 91% | 4.2M | $106M (exactly $105,550,263) | Red Hook Studios |
| | XCOM® 2 | older | $19.99 | 79,998 84% | 2.4M | $48M (exactly $47,974,801) | Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac),… (Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | Darkest Dungeon® II | older | $39.99 | 24,249 74% | 727k | $29M (exactly $29,091,525) | Red Hook Studios |
| | Peglin | older | $19.99 | 16,626 83% | 499k | $10M (exactly $9,970,612) | Red Nexus Games Inc. |
| | The Last Spell | older | $24.99 | 13,260 91% | 398k | $9.9M (exactly $9,941,022) | Ishtar Games |
 | Mordheim: City of the Damned | older | $19.99 | 7,056 72% | 212k | $4.2M (exactly $4,231,483) | Rogue Factor |
 | Othercide | older | $29.99 | 4,516 82% | 135k | $4.1M (exactly $4,063,045) | Lightbulb Crew |
 | Invisible, Inc. | older | $19.99 | 5,096 91% | 153k | $3.1M (exactly $3,056,071) | Klei Entertainment |
 | Crown Trick | older | $19.99 | 4,509 85% | 135k | $2.7M (exactly $2,704,047) | NEXT Studios |
 | Cyber Knights: Flashpoint | $29.99 | 2,926 93% | 88k | $2.6M (exactly $2,632,522) | Trese Brothers | |
 | SpellRogue | $19.99 | 1,566 86% | 47k | $939k (exactly $939,130) | Guidelight Games | |
 | LONESTAR | $12.99 | 2,183 90% | 65k | $851k (exactly $850,715) | Math Tide | |
 | Dice Gambit | $24.99 | 1,080 87% | 32k | $810k (exactly $809,676) | Chromatic Ink | |
 | Those Who Rule | $17.99 | 1,116 89% | 33k | $602k (exactly $602,305) | Eldin Turulja | |
 | Rune Coliseum | · EA | $18.99 | 886 79% | 27k | $505k (exactly $504,754) | Rafale Software |
 | Bloodgrounds | $19.99 | 561 77% | 17k | $336k (exactly $336,432) | Exordium Games | |
 | The Monster Breeder | $29.99 | 272 91% | 8.2k | $245k (exactly $244,718) | Fantasy Creations | |
 | Gods of Sand | $9.99 | 720 86% | 22k | $216k (exactly $215,784) | Achenar Studios | |
 | House of Necrosis | $11.99 | 581 94% | 17k | $209k (exactly $208,986) | Warkus |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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