Do I ship it?

Games › Real-Time › Real-Time + Tower Defense

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Tower Defense Real-Time game?

Real-Time + Tower Defense

Only 9 developers shipped a Tower Defense Real-Time game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Castle Craft, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 17 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $32k, ×52 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $4.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $280k, ×458 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 17 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 51.6 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 17 announced, ×2.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Real-Time + Tower Defense
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 9
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.8k → $28k (still earning) → $32k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Real-Time + Tower Defense: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 9
Bottom 30% $4.0k (exactly $4,047)
Median $32k (exactly $32,384)
Top 25% $52k (exactly $52,043)
Top 5% $288k (exactly $287,856)
Developers, 2 yr 9
Released games 36
Announced 17
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $12.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 700% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 6%, 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
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Tower Defense
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 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
Real-Time, Tower Defense
Price point
$12.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 93% positive over 43,665 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $4.1k, median $32k, 1 in 4 over $52k, 1 in 20 over $280k.

3 in 10 developers made under $4.1k. 17 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Character CustomizationStrong odds7 devs · median $2.0k · 6 announced
  2. + RogueliteFair11 devs · median $11k · 14 announced
  3. + BuildingPoor odds14 devs · median $62k · 20 announced
  4. + HistoricalPoor odds10 devs · median $52k · 15 announced
  5. + WarPoor odds14 devs · median $37k · 20 announced
  6. + Base BuildingPoor odds21 devs · median $37k · 33 announced
  7. + WargamePoor odds13 devs · median $37k · 17 announced
  8. + PhysicsPoor odds7 devs · median $33k · 13 announced
  9. + Action RTSPoor odds12 devs · median $31k · 18 announced
  10. + StrategyPoor odds39 devs · median $28k · 75 announced
  11. + RTSPoor odds21 devs · median $22k · 40 announced
  12. + SimulationPoor odds25 devs · median $22k · 43 announced

All 40 pairs on the Real-Time page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Starship Troopers: Terran Command 2022 · $8.3M Stronghold Crusader HD (2012) 2013 · $5.3M Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal 2014 · $1.8M Rusted Warfare - RTS 2017 · $991k AI War 2 2019 · $678k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Starship Troopers: Terran Command older $29.99 9,214 87% 276k $8.3M (exactly $8,289,836) The Artistocrats
Stronghold Crusader HD (2012) older $9.99 17,564 97% 527k $5.3M (exactly $5,263,931) Firefly Studios
Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal older $14.99 4,098 96% 123k $1.8M (exactly $1,842,871) Knuckle Cracker
Rusted Warfare - RTS older $4.99 6,619 96% 199k $991k (exactly $990,864) Corroding Games
AI War 2 older $19.99 1,130 87% 34k $678k (exactly $677,661) Arcen Games
Necrosmith 2 older $7.99 1,315 77% 39k $315k (exactly $315,206) Alawar
Castle Craft $19.99 480 82% 14k $288k (exactly $287,856) Twin Earth
Space Run older $4.99 1,766 85% 53k $264k (exactly $264,370) Passtech Games
Siege of Centauri older $14.99 350 64% 11k $157k (exactly $157,395) Stardock Entertainment
Unholy Heights older $3.99 1,129 90% 34k $135k (exactly $135,141) Petit Depotto
Final Outpost: Definitive Edition $9.99 208 76% 6.2k $62k (exactly $62,338) Exabyte Games
MORSE $13.99 124 93% 3.7k $52k (exactly $52,043) ALJO Games
The Legend of Mala Tokmachka $4.99 246 71% 7.4k $37k (exactly $36,826) The Current Thing
WARSHIFT 2 $19.99 54 70% 1.6k $32k (exactly $32,384) Cyril Megem
Gem Miner TD $12.99 72 97% 2.2k $28k (exactly $28,058) iFeral Games
America Against Ants $14.99 9 100% 270 $4.0k (exactly $4,047) Aartform Games, Mark Brendan
A Byte War $8.99 11 100% 330 $3.0k (exactly $2,967) STELLAR, Chunky Pixel Games
Millennium Conflict $3.99 17 100% 510 $2.0k (exactly $2,035) Badim

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