Do I ship it?

GamesReal Time TacticsReal Time Tactics + Puzzle

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Puzzle Real Time Tactics?

Real Time Tactics + Puzzle

Of 98 developers who shipped a Puzzle Real Time Tactics 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.. 93 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 55 developers shipped in the last year and 93 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 20% on the market, 93 announced, ×1.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Real Time Tactics + Puzzle
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 98
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.1k → $418 → $1.3k → $419 → $564 → $449 → $551 (still earning) → $90 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Real Time Tactics + Puzzle: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 98
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $358 (exactly $358)
Top 25% $1.8k (exactly $1,778)
Top 5% $95k (exactly $95,361)
Developers, 2 yr 98
Released games 333
Announced 93
Effort 6 / 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 20% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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.

Real Time Tactics
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Puzzle
effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data

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
Real Time Tactics, Puzzle; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, RTS
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, 2D, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 21,546 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 $360, 1 in 4 over $1.7k, 1 in 20 over $95k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 64 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 93 games are announced against 55 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Real Time Tactics with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + DragonsStrong odds17 devs · median $6.6k · 19 announced
  2. + Outbreak SimFair12 devs · median $1.8k · 14 announced
  3. + HackingFair11 devs · median $987 · 11 announced
  4. + World War IIPoor odds24 devs · median $67k · 35 announced
  5. + Cold WarPoor odds9 devs · median $19k · 16 announced
  6. + HistoricalPoor odds88 devs · median $19k · 154 announced
  7. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds19 devs · median $16k · 31 announced
  8. + Real-TimePoor odds16 devs · median $16k · 26 announced
  9. + MechsPoor odds16 devs · median $13k · 32 announced
  10. + Vehicular CombatPoor odds20 devs · median $9.6k · 50 announced
  11. + God GamePoor odds19 devs · median $7.8k · 32 announced
  12. + Open WorldPoor odds29 devs · median $7.2k · 111 announced

All 176 pairs on the Real Time Tactics page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun older $39.99 30,845 96% 925k $37M (exactly $37,004,746) Mimimi Games
LOCKDOWN Protocol $9.99 16,605 86% 498k $5.0M (exactly $4,976,518) Mirage Creative Lab
Door Kickers older $19.99 8,041 94% 241k $4.8M (exactly $4,822,188) KillHouse Games
Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice older $19.99 3,965 93% 119k $2.4M (exactly $2,377,810) Mimimi Games
Rail Route older $24.99 2,400 88% 72k $1.8M (exactly $1,799,280) Bitrich.info
Duskers older $19.99 2,304 90% 69k $1.4M (exactly $1,381,709) Misfits Attic
Drop Duchy $14.99 2,962 89% 89k $1.3M (exactly $1,332,011) Sleepy Mill Studio
Artisan TD older $16.99 2,237 88% 67k $1.1M (exactly $1,140,199) 4rtisans
Train Valley 2 older $14.99 2,356 90% 71k $1.1M (exactly $1,059,493) Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timof… (Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm)
I am an Air Traffic Controller 4 older $59.99 566 79% 17k $1.0M (exactly $1,018,630) TechnoBrain
63 Days $29.99 413 72% 12k $372k (exactly $371,576) Destructive Creations
MINOS $17.99 544 88% 16k $294k (exactly $293,597) Artificer
Train Valley Origins $11.95 266 75% 8.0k $95k (exactly $95,361) Flazm
Yokai Art 2: Tales of the Nine-Tails $9.99 314 75% 9.4k $94k (exactly $94,106) Secret Labo
Barely Working · EA $14.99 156 91% 4.7k $70k (exactly $70,153) Deep Games LLC
ITER-8 $12.99 161 70% 4.8k $63k (exactly $62,742) fluckyMachine
ATC Ground Point $15.99 77 81% 2.3k $37k (exactly $36,937) Blueon
Chaos Entropy $11.00 48 89% 1.4k $16k (exactly $15,840) MILLIDIA

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