Do I ship it?

Games › Real Time Tactics › Real Time Tactics + Roguelike

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Roguelike Real Time Tactics?

Real Time Tactics + Roguelike

Of 152 developers who shipped a Roguelike 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.. 221 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $1.6k, ×2.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $270k, ×436 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 221 games are announced against 87 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 2.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 60% on the market, 221 announced, ×2.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Real Time Tactics + Roguelike
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 152
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.6k → $5.5k → $1.3k → $7.2k → $2.2k → $2.2k → $2.0k (still earning) → $419 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Real Time Tactics + Roguelike: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 152
Bottom 30% $269 (exactly $269)
Median $1.6k (exactly $1,618)
Top 25% $16k (exactly $16,300)
Top 5% $274k (exactly $273,867)
Developers, 2 yr 152
Released games 286
Announced 221
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $7.99

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 60% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, 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
Roguelike
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 Tactics, Roguelike; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelite, RTS
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 18,173 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $270, median $1.6k, 1 in 4 over $16k, 1 in 20 over $270k.

3 in 10 developers made under $270. 8 in 10 of the 76 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 221 games are announced against 87 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.

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

Bad North: Jotunn Edition 2018 · $5.6M The King is Watching 2025 · $4.0M Ratropolis 2020 · $2.8M Crying Suns 2019 · $2.4M Duskers 2016 · $1.4M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Bad North: Jotunn Edition older $14.99 12,344 93% 370k $5.6M (exactly $5,551,097) Plausible Concept, Oskar Stålberg
The King is Watching $14.99 9,006 88% 270k $4.0M (exactly $4,049,998) Hypnohead
Ratropolis older $17.99 5,187 87% 156k $2.8M (exactly $2,799,424) Cassel Games
Crying Suns older $24.99 3,149 85% 94k $2.4M (exactly $2,360,805) Alt Shift
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
Tabletop Tavern $19.99 2,049 89% 61k $1.2M (exactly $1,228,785) TJ
Hadean Tactics older $19.99 1,725 89% 52k $1.0M (exactly $1,034,482) Emberfish Games
The Lost Village older $11.99 2,743 70% 82k $987k (exactly $986,657) FunYoo Games
Abandon Ship older $24.99 1,151 71% 35k $863k (exactly $862,905) Fireblade Software
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes $24.99 1,039 76% 31k $779k (exactly $778,938) Alt Shift
Axon TD: Uprising - Tower Defense $19.99 706 85% 21k $423k (exactly $423,388) Element Studios
MINOS $17.99 544 88% 16k $294k (exactly $293,597) Artificer
Castle Of Alchemists $14.99 618 80% 19k $278k (exactly $277,915) Team Machiavelli
Guidus Zero $14.99 609 75% 18k $274k (exactly $273,867) izzle
Drone Sector · EA $16.99 366 89% 11k $187k (exactly $186,550) Icosphere
Grit and Valor - 1949 $19.99 274 75% 8.2k $164k (exactly $164,318) Milky Tea Studios

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