Games › Strategy › Strategy + Point & Click
Should I ship a Point & Click Strategy game?
Strategy + Point & Click
Of 441 developers who shipped a Point & Click Strategy 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.. 520 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, ×0.8 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $120. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 520 games are announced against 276 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $478 (exactly $478) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,594) |
| Top 5% | $92k (exactly $92,169) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 441 |
| Released games | 1,453 |
| Announced | 520 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 80% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Strategy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Point & Click
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Strategy, Point & Click; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Adventure, Incremental
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 96% positive over 196,161 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 260 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 520 games are announced against 276 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Strategy with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + BaseballFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + WuxiaFair
- + FarmingFair
- + Martial ArtsFair
- + SubmarineFair
- + NavalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Shop KeeperFair
- + HackingFair
Comparable games
Dispatch 2025 · $157M 
Inscryption 2021 · $81M 
Papers, Please 2013 · $22M 
Game Dev Tycoon 2013 · $12M 
Beholder 2016 · $9.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dispatch | $29.99 | 174,624 97% | 5.2M | $157M (exactly $157,109,213) | AdHoc Studio | |
| | Inscryption | older | $19.99 | 135,017 96% | 4.1M | $81M (exactly $80,969,695) | Daniel Mullins Games |
| | Papers, Please | older | $9.99 | 73,406 97% | 2.2M | $22M (exactly $21,999,778) | Lucas Pope |
| | Game Dev Tycoon | older | $9.99 | 40,312 95% | 1.2M | $12M (exactly $12,081,506) | Greenheart Games 💚 |
| | Beholder | older | $13.99 | 23,199 91% | 696k | $9.7M (exactly $9,736,620) | Alawar Stargaze (Warm Lamp Games) |
 | HuniePop | older | $9.99 | 23,989 96% | 720k | $7.2M (exactly $7,189,503) | HuniePot |
 | Five Nights at Freddy's 2 | older | $7.99 | 23,871 93% | 716k | $5.7M (exactly $5,721,879) | Scott Cawthon |
 | 60 Seconds! Reatomized | older | $9.99 | 18,362 94% | 551k | $5.5M (exactly $5,503,091) | Robot Gentleman |
 | Do Not Feed the Monkeys | older | $15.99 | 10,376 93% | 311k | $5.0M (exactly $4,977,367) | Fictiorama Studios |
 | Five Nights at Freddy's 4 | older | $7.99 | 15,483 93% | 464k | $3.7M (exactly $3,711,275) | Scott Cawthon |
 | Cyber Manhunt 2: New World - The Hacking Simulator | $12.99 | 5,191 92% | 156k | $2.0M (exactly $2,022,933) | Aluba Van+ | |
 | Beholder: Conductor | $13.99 | 4,532 91% | 136k | $1.9M (exactly $1,902,080) | Alawar | |
 | Monument Valley 3 | $14.99 | 2,155 93% | 65k | $969k (exactly $969,104) | ustwo games | |
 | Ship, Inc. | $9.99 | 2,168 83% | 65k | $650k (exactly $649,750) | Rogue Duck Interactive | |
 | The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition | $24.99 | 836 72% | 25k | $627k (exactly $626,749) | Blue Brain Games | |
 | Lost But Found | $6.99 | 2,316 71% | 69k | $486k (exactly $485,665) | Rogue Duck Interactive | |
 | The Executive - Movie Industry Tycoon | $14.99 | 1,034 80% | 31k | $465k (exactly $464,990) | Aniki Games | |
 | Corruption Town | · EA | $14.99 | 992 88% | 30k | $446k (exactly $446,102) | BoredBasmati |
 | xiuzhen idle | $5.99 | 2,313 79% | 69k | $416k (exactly $415,646) | 游戏养家工作室 |
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.