Should I ship a Puzzle RTS?
RTS + Puzzle
Of 48 developers who shipped a Puzzle RTS 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.. 40 more are announced.
Verdict: long shot, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, ×0.3 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, but 1 in 20 cleared $94k, ×63 the market median. Revenue is up 140% on the market; 40 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $479 (exactly $479) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) |
| Top 5% | $94k (exactly $94,106) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 48 |
| Released games | 166 |
| Announced | 40 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 140% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- RTS, Puzzle; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Real Time Tactics, Simulation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 1,649 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 30 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 40 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
RTS with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RomeFair
- + Outbreak SimFair
- + HorrorFair
- + NavalFair
- + TabletopFair
- + SportsLong shot
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun 2016 · $37M 
Door Kickers 2014 · $4.8M 
LEGO® Star Wars™ III - The Clone Wars™ 2011 · $4.3M 
Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice 2021 · $2.4M 
Breakout 13 2023 · $2.1M | 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 |
| | Door Kickers | older | $19.99 | 8,041 94% | 241k | $4.8M (exactly $4,822,188) | KillHouse Games |
| | LEGO® Star Wars™ III - The Clone Wars™ | older | $19.99 | 7,194 94% | 216k | $4.3M (exactly $4,314,242) | Traveller's Tales |
| | Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice | older | $19.99 | 3,965 93% | 119k | $2.4M (exactly $2,377,810) | Mimimi Games |
| | Breakout 13 | older | $9.99 | 6,899 87% | 207k | $2.1M (exactly $2,067,630) | ALT Lab |
 | Fly Corp | older | $14.99 | 3,112 85% | 93k | $1.4M (exactly $1,399,466) | KishMish Games |
 | Overlord II | older | $9.99 | 4,002 89% | 120k | $1.2M (exactly $1,199,399) | Triumph Studios |
 | RAILGRADE | older | $29.99 | 1,205 84% | 36k | $1.1M (exactly $1,084,138) | Minakata Dynamics |
 | I am an Air Traffic Controller 4 | older | $59.99 | 566 79% | 17k | $1.0M (exactly $1,018,630) | TechnoBrain |
 | Overlord™ | older | $4.99 | 5,007 94% | 150k | $750k (exactly $749,548) | Triumph Studios |
 | 63 Days | $29.99 | 413 72% | 12k | $372k (exactly $371,576) | Destructive Creations | |
 | Super Loco World - Cozy Train Automation | $9.99 | 329 76% | 9.9k | $99k (exactly $98,601) | Andrii Bychkovskyi | |
 | Yokai Art 2: Tales of the Nine-Tails | $9.99 | 314 75% | 9.4k | $94k (exactly $94,106) | Secret Labo | |
 | Check Inn | $14.99 | 197 84% | 5.9k | $89k (exactly $88,591) | KishMish Games | |
 | Barely Working | · EA | $14.99 | 156 91% | 4.7k | $70k (exactly $70,153) | Deep Games LLC |
 | Ghost Keeper | $12.99 | 70 75% | 2.1k | $27k (exactly $27,279) | Quest Craft | |
 | ShoreTiles | $6.99 | 90 74% | 2.7k | $19k (exactly $18,873) | Voxel Studios | |
 | Chaos Entropy | $11.00 | 48 89% | 1.4k | $16k (exactly $15,840) | MILLIDIA | |
 | Pocket and Zooom | $15.99 | 16 75% | 480 | $7.7k (exactly $7,675) | TechnoBrain | |
 | PipeFlow | $9.99 | 16 75% | 480 | $4.8k (exactly $4,795) | Sharkgame |
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.