Do I ship it?

Games › Tactical RPG › Tactical RPG + Puzzle

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Puzzle Tactical RPG?

Tactical RPG + Puzzle

Of 41 developers who shipped a Puzzle Tactical RPG 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.. 69 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $3.2k, ×5.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $490k, ×794 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 69 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 5.2 times the market baseline, revenue flat on the market, 69 announced, ×3.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Tactical RPG + Puzzle
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 41
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $5.7k → $449 → $599 → $25k → $22k → $4.0k → $478 (still earning) → $3.0k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Tactical RPG + Puzzle: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 41
Bottom 30% $478 (exactly $478)
Median $3.2k (exactly $3,235)
Top 25% $39k (exactly $39,398)
Top 5% $498k (exactly $498,351)
Developers, 2 yr 41
Released games 156
Announced 69
Effort 5 / 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 flat on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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 RPG
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Tactical RPG, Puzzle; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, RPG, Strategy
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Pixel Graphics, Funny
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 80% positive over 4,647 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $480, median $3.2k, 1 in 4 over $39k, 1 in 20 over $490k.

3 in 10 developers made under $480. 8 in 10 of the 26 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 69 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair24 devs · median $9.0k · 29 announced
  2. + Mystery DungeonFair30 devs · median $2.4k · 24 announced
  3. + Space SimFair9 devs · median $1.8k · 15 announced
  4. + Point & ClickFair21 devs · median $839 · 26 announced
  5. + 2D PlatformerFair58 devs · median $599 · 49 announced
  6. + Asynchronous MultiplayerPoor odds10 devs · median $63k · 16 announced
  7. + Colony SimPoor odds16 devs · median $41k · 29 announced
  8. + SandboxPoor odds42 devs · median $20k · 102 announced
  9. + Turn-BasedPoor odds61 devs · median $18k · 81 announced
  10. + RobotsPoor odds15 devs · median $17k · 27 announced
  11. + RomancePoor odds23 devs · median $10k · 38 announced
  12. + WarPoor odds80 devs · median $8.7k · 143 announced

All 145 pairs on the Tactical RPG page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Tactical Breach Wizards 2024 · $6.9M SteamWorld Heist II 2024 · $2.0M Rogue Waters 2024 · $859k Vaporum 2017 · $599k Ledgerbound 2026 · $506k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Tactical Breach Wizards older $19.99 11,485 97% 345k $6.9M (exactly $6,887,554) Suspicious Developments
SteamWorld Heist II older $29.99 2,201 93% 66k $2.0M (exactly $1,980,240) Thunderful Development
Rogue Waters $29.99 955 75% 29k $859k (exactly $859,214) Ice Code Games
Vaporum older $19.99 998 84% 30k $599k (exactly $598,501) Fatbot Games, s. r. o.
Ledgerbound $29.99 562 92% 17k $506k (exactly $505,631) OmniMegaSuperCorp
Knights in Tight Spaces $19.99 831 69% 25k $498k (exactly $498,351) Ground Shatter
Titanium Court $14.99 1,094 94% 33k $492k (exactly $491,972) AP Thomson
Sunday Gold older $21.99 687 77% 21k $453k (exactly $453,214) BKOM Studios
Iron Danger older $19.99 544 73% 16k $326k (exactly $326,237) Action Squad Studios
Ash of Gods: The Way older $24.99 416 80% 12k $312k (exactly $311,875) AurumDust
Philna Fantasy $14.99 477 52% 14k $215k (exactly $214,507) Sailike Game
The Stone of Madness $29.99 199 77% 6.0k $179k (exactly $179,040) The Game Kitchen
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown $19.99 160 89% 4.8k $96k (exactly $95,952) Strange Scaffold
Cyber Tower 2048 $29.99 92 88% 2.8k $83k (exactly $82,772) Galactic Geckon
The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time $17.99 146 86% 4.4k $79k (exactly $78,796) Coin Drop Games, Lucas Immanuel, jucobe… (Coin Drop Games, Lucas Immanuel, jucobee, Kyle Chuang)
Lord Ambermaze $14.99 131 91% 3.9k $59k (exactly $58,911) Potata Company

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