Games › Real Time Tactics › Real Time Tactics + Shoot 'Em Up
Should I ship a Shoot 'Em Up Real Time Tactics?
Real Time Tactics + Shoot 'Em Up
Only 17 developers shipped a Shoot 'Em Up Real Time Tactics 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, Badlands Crew - Drive, Command, Conquer, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 29 more are announced, ×5.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $640k, ×1021 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 29 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $450 (exactly $450) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,040) |
| Top 25% | $4.5k (exactly $4,491) |
| Top 5% | $641k (exactly $641,482) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 75 |
| Announced | 29 |
| 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 65% on the market, supply 60% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Shoot 'Em Up
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Real Time Tactics, Shoot 'Em Up; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, RPG
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $18.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 1,965 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 9 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Real Time Tactics with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DragonsStrong odds
- + Outbreak SimFair
- + HackingFair
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + MechsPoor odds
- + Vehicular CombatPoor odds
- + God GamePoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Badlands Crew - Drive, Command, Conquer | $18.99 | 1,126 78% | 34k | $641k (exactly $641,482) | Runner Duck | |
| | Darwinia | older | $11.99 | 781 78% | 23k | $281k (exactly $280,926) | Introversion Software |
| | Castle Of Alchemists | $14.99 | 618 80% | 19k | $278k (exactly $277,915) | Team Machiavelli | |
| | Swordship | older | $19.99 | 209 85% | 6.3k | $125k (exactly $125,337) | Digital Kingdom |
| | Touhou Spell Carnival | $49.99 | 49 77% | 1.5k | $73k (exactly $73,485) | Idea Factory, Compile Heart, STING | |
| | Gray Zone | older | $19.99 | 52 61% | 1.6k | $31k (exactly $31,184) | EastWorks |
| | RESEARCH and DESTROY | older | $19.99 | 45 95% | 1.4k | $27k (exactly $26,986) | Implausible Industries |
| | Bees vs Zombees | $7.99 | 89 92% | 2.7k | $21k (exactly $21,333) | DeadPixel | |
| | Sierra Ops - Space Strategy Visual Novel | older | $14.99 | 42 80% | 1.3k | $19k (exactly $18,887) | Innomen Team |
| | Sky of Destruction | older | $12.99 | 38 52% | 1.1k | $15k (exactly $14,809) | Satur Entertainment |
| | Asteroid Odyssey | $4.99 | 30 36% | 900 | $4.5k (exactly $4,491) | LampDog Studio | |
| | Doomsday Tower Defense | $15.99 | 3 33% | 90 | $1.4k (exactly $1,439) | Urban Isotope | |
| | Xeno Rangers | $11.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.4k (exactly $1,439) | 9000 Legends | |
| | Enemy Engaged: Apache vs Havoc | $5.99 | 6 50% | 180 | $1.1k (exactly $1,078) | Razorworks | |
| | MEMOLOGY: ESCAPE OF MEMES | $0.99 | 35 91% | 1.1k | $1.0k (exactly $1,040) | Gamesforfarm, Piece Of Voxel | |
| | Miryam: The Polluted Land | $4.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | 6.5F Studio |
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.