Do I ship it?

Games › Real Time Tactics › Real Time Tactics + Space Sim

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Space Sim Real Time Tactics?

Real Time Tactics + Space Sim

Of 20 developers who shipped a Space Sim 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.. 61 more are announced, ×4.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $3.0k, ×4.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $1.4M, ×2256 the market median. Revenue is down 15% on the market; 61 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.8 times the market baseline, revenue down 15% on the market, 61 announced, ×4.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Real Time Tactics + Space Sim
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 20
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $5.6k → $643k → $1.1k → $9.2k → $6.3k → $19k → $4.5k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Real Time Tactics + Space Sim: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 20
Bottom 30% $179 (exactly $179)
Median $3.0k (exactly $2,998)
Top 25% $19k (exactly $18,581)
Top 5% $1.4M (exactly $1,417,028)
Developers, 2 yr 20
Released games 84
Announced 61
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 15% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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
Space Sim
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium 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, Space Sim; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Exploration, RTS
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 80% positive over 3,354 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $3.0k, 1 in 4 over $18k, 1 in 20 over $1.4M.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 7 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 61 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.7 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

ERA ONE 2025 · EA · $1.4M Executive Assault 2 2023 · $1.2M Airship: Kingdoms Adrift 2023 · $812k Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes 2026 · $779k Stars End 2023 · $677k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
ERA ONE · EA $29.99 1,575 86% 47k $1.4M (exactly $1,417,028) Team Complex LTD
Executive Assault 2 older $24.99 1,604 82% 48k $1.2M (exactly $1,202,519) Hesketh Studios Ltd
Airship: Kingdoms Adrift older $29.99 902 75% 27k $812k (exactly $811,529) Revolution Industry
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes $24.99 1,039 76% 31k $779k (exactly $778,938) Alt Shift
Stars End older $19.99 1,129 63% 34k $677k (exactly $677,061) Reverie World Studios
BattleGroupVR older $24.99 858 92% 26k $643k (exactly $643,243) SpaceOwl Games
Space Reign $19.99 444 72% 13k $266k (exactly $266,267) Propulsive Games
Final Upgrade older $19.99 437 75% 13k $262k (exactly $262,069) TaosX
Star Command Galaxies older $12.99 363 41% 11k $141k (exactly $141,461) Warballoon
Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War older $19.99 234 77% 7.0k $140k (exactly $140,330) Volition Inc.
Riftborne · EA $7.99 108 91% 3.2k $26k (exactly $25,888) Pitio Productions
Catharage $9.99 62 82% 1.9k $19k (exactly $18,581) Björn Michalski
WarOS · EA $19.99 29 72% 870 $17k (exactly $17,391) The7 Studio
Deep Dark Forest $7.99 41 87% 1.2k $9.8k (exactly $9,828) pixiangames
Accretion $9.99 21 38% 630 $6.3k (exactly $6,294) ValarFerys
Asteroid Odyssey $4.99 30 36% 900 $4.5k (exactly $4,491) LampDog Studio
New Stars $19.99 5 60% 150 $3.0k (exactly $2,998) adamjr

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