Do I ship it?

Games › Tactical › Tactical + Point & Click

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Point & Click Tactical game?

Tactical + Point & Click

Of 65 developers who shipped a Point & Click 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.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $270 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 38 developers shipped in the last year and 56 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue up 60% on the market, 56 announced, ×1.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Tactical + Point & Click
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 65
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $776 → $150 → $390 → $300 → $298 → $60 → $150 (still earning) → $600 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Tactical + Point & Click: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 65
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $269 (exactly $269)
Top 25% $1.2k (exactly $1,198)
Top 5% $20k (exactly $20,210)
Developers, 2 yr 65
Released games 210
Announced 56
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.00

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 60% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, 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.

Tactical
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Point & Click
effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high 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
Tactical, Point & Click; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Incremental, Puzzle
Price point
$4.00 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.00.

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 672 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $270, 1 in 4 over $1.1k, 1 in 20 over $20k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Football (American)Strong odds12 devs · median $5.8k · 8 announced
  2. + Mystery DungeonStrong odds20 devs · median $2.5k · 15 announced
  3. + Dating SimFair13 devs · median $11k · 9 announced
  4. + 6DOFFair14 devs · median $2.4k · 19 announced
  5. + Word GameFair23 devs · median $1.8k · 12 announced
  6. + TypingFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 9 announced
  7. + DwarvesFair7 devs · median $1.0k · 10 announced
  8. + Traditional RoguelikeFair38 devs · median $987 · 57 announced
  9. + Dynamic NarrationFair13 devs · median $899 · 16 announced
  10. + Farming SimFair12 devs · median $897 · 10 announced
  11. + SolitaireFair25 devs · median $479 · 22 announced
  12. + LGBTQ+Fair20 devs · median $479 · 21 announced

All 226 pairs on the Tactical page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Beholder 2 2018 · $3.7M At Dead Of Night 2020 · $1.6M Timelie 2020 · $962k Distrust: Polar Survival 2017 · $687k Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood 2011 · $314k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Beholder 2 older $17.99 6,865 87% 206k $3.7M (exactly $3,705,040) Alawar Stargaze (Warm Lamp Games)
At Dead Of Night older $15.99 3,289 94% 99k $1.6M (exactly $1,577,733) Baggy Cat Ltd.
Timelie older $17.99 1,783 95% 53k $962k (exactly $962,285) Urnique Studio
Distrust: Polar Survival older $12.99 1,764 73% 53k $687k (exactly $687,431) Cheerdealers
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood older $7.99 1,311 66% 39k $314k (exactly $314,247) Spellbound
The Stone of Madness $29.99 199 77% 6.0k $179k (exactly $179,040) The Game Kitchen
Zup! 7 older $1.99 2,246 95% 67k $134k (exactly $134,086) Quiet River
Interstellaria older $9.99 353 53% 11k $106k (exactly $105,794) Coldrice Games LLC
Era of Miracles older $29.99 106 75% 3.2k $95k (exactly $95,368) Argentum Gaming
PRINCIPIA: Master of Science · EA older $9.99 302 69% 9.1k $91k (exactly $90,509) tomeapp
Demon Maiden and Slave Summoning $10.99 106 82% 3.2k $35k (exactly $34,948) Sunspot
Kaamos: Puzzle Roguelike $9.99 73 87% 2.2k $22k (exactly $21,878) Pepperbox Studios
Destroy! Mosaic! $4.99 135 77% 4.1k $20k (exactly $20,210) 悠悠幽靈工作室
Rise of Atom $19.99 29 79% 870 $17k (exactly $17,391) Glass Bubble Software
Ballardo: Roguelike Billiards · EA $8.99 13 53% 390 $3.5k (exactly $3,506) Nue Games
Buttons Up! $1.99 53 84% 1.6k $3.2k (exactly $3,164) Jestercraft
Ocean Cleaner Idle $2.99 28 57% 840 $2.5k (exactly $2,512) Watt a Day Games
Find-o'-Lantern $2.99 21 100% 630 $1.9k (exactly $1,884) Error 300
Panic Sell 2 $3.99 15 93% 450 $1.8k (exactly $1,796) Serhii Khramov

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