Do I ship it?

GamesTacticalTactical + Political Sim

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Political Sim Tactical game?

Tactical + Political Sim

Of 37 developers who shipped a Political Sim 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.. 62 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $5.4k, ×8.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $190k, ×307 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 62 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 8.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 25% on the market, 62 announced, ×3.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Tactical + Political Sim
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 37
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $657 → $579k → $3.3k → $12k → $1.9k → $898 (still earning) → $49k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Tactical + Political Sim: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 37
Bottom 30% $838 (exactly $838)
Median $5.4k (exactly $5,397)
Top 25% $49k (exactly $49,492)
Top 5% $193k (exactly $192,667)
Developers, 2 yr 37
Released games 91
Announced 62
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 down 25% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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
Political Sim
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 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
Tactical, Political Sim; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 49% positive over 46,740 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $840, median $5.4k, 1 in 4 over $49k, 1 in 20 over $190k.

3 in 10 developers made under $840. 7 in 10 of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 62 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.

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

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Sid Meier's Civilization VII $69.99 44,789 48% 1.3M $94M (exactly $94,043,463) Firaxis Games
Democracy 4 older $29.99 5,891 81% 177k $5.3M (exactly $5,300,133) Positech Games
Total Conflict: Resistance · EA older $29.99 5,089 74% 153k $4.6M (exactly $4,578,573) Thunder Devs.
Beholder 2 older $17.99 6,865 87% 206k $3.7M (exactly $3,705,040) Alawar Stargaze (Warm Lamp Games)
Power & Revolution 2022 Edition older $49.99 815 60% 24k $1.2M (exactly $1,222,256) Eversim
Ancient Warfare: The Han Dynasty · EA older $16.99 1,708 69% 51k $871k (exactly $870,568) 不秋草游戏工作室(Bamboo Games)
Twilight Struggle older $9.99 2,568 86% 77k $770k (exactly $769,630) Playdek, Inc.
Supreme Ruler Ultimate older $19.99 1,169 77% 35k $701k (exactly $701,049) BattleGoat Studios
World Warfare & Economics · EA older $29.99 643 58% 19k $579k (exactly $578,507) Okron Studio
Sigma Theory: Global Cold War older $17.99 892 77% 27k $481k (exactly $481,412) Mi-Clos Studio, Goblinz Studio, FibreTi… (Mi-Clos Studio, Goblinz Studio, FibreTigre)
NationWar2:Chronicle $16.99 378 78% 11k $193k (exactly $192,667) Yiming
Prime Monster $19.99 308 83% 9.2k $185k (exactly $184,708) Cavalier Game Studios
AfterWar $34.99 139 72% 4.2k $146k (exactly $145,908) Dmytro Lumen
King's Orders $14.99 257 70% 7.7k $116k (exactly $115,573) AFTERLIFE👻
Three Kingdoms : Alias · EA $7.99 359 79% 11k $86k (exactly $86,052) Plotrick
For the Fatherland: Chronicle of Park Chung-hee $14.99 176 88% 5.3k $79k (exactly $79,147) KMS STUDIO
Becoming Saint $14.99 135 64% 4.1k $61k (exactly $60,710) Open Lab Games
Bonaparte - A Mechanized Revolution $24.99 72 68% 2.2k $54k (exactly $53,978) Studio Imugi
Three Kingdoms Classic $12.99 127 88% 3.8k $49k (exactly $49,492) SEEAT

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