Games › Real Time Tactics › Real Time Tactics + Survival
Should I ship a Real Time Tactics Survival game?
Real Time Tactics + Survival
Of 121 developers who shipped a Real Time Tactics Survival game 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.. 201 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $600, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $350k, ×562 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 201 games are announced against 64 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $599 (exactly $599) |
| Top 25% | $9.0k (exactly $8,991) |
| Top 5% | $353k (exactly $353,109) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 121 |
| Released games | 361 |
| Announced | 201 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, 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
- Survival
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Real Time Tactics, Survival; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, RTS, Base Building
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 23,248 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 74 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 201 games are announced against 64 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Kenshi | older | $29.99 | 98,451 95% | 3.0M | $89M (exactly $88,576,365) | Lo-Fi Games |
| | Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun | older | $39.99 | 30,845 96% | 925k | $37M (exactly $37,004,746) | Mimimi Games |
| | Aliens: Dark Descent | older | $39.99 | 15,310 87% | 459k | $18M (exactly $18,367,407) | Tindalos Interactive |
| | Total War: ATTILA | older | $19.99 | 26,918 82% | 808k | $16M (exactly $16,142,725) | CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive |
| | Going Medieval | $29.99 | 17,032 88% | 511k | $15M (exactly $15,323,690) | Foxy Voxel | |
| | Desperados III | older | $39.99 | 11,880 96% | 356k | $14M (exactly $14,252,436) | Mimimi Games |
| | Bad North: Jotunn Edition | older | $14.99 | 12,344 93% | 370k | $5.6M (exactly $5,551,097) | Plausible Concept, Oskar Stålberg |
| | Last Train Home | older | $39.99 | 4,511 86% | 135k | $5.4M (exactly $5,411,847) | Ashborne Games |
| | Ratropolis | older | $17.99 | 5,187 87% | 156k | $2.8M (exactly $2,799,424) | Cassel Games |
| | Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice | older | $19.99 | 3,965 93% | 119k | $2.4M (exactly $2,377,810) | Mimimi Games |
| | ZeroSpace | · EA | $39.99 | 1,161 78% | 35k | $1.4M (exactly $1,392,852) | Starlance Studios, Ironward |
| | Empire of the Ants | $39.99 | 931 73% | 28k | $1.1M (exactly $1,116,921) | Tower Five | |
| | Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand | $29.99 | 1,015 49% | 30k | $913k (exactly $913,196) | Relic Entertainment | |
| | Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes | $24.99 | 1,039 76% | 31k | $779k (exactly $778,938) | Alt Shift | |
| | Survive the Fall | $24.99 | 590 65% | 18k | $442k (exactly $442,323) | Angry Bulls Studio | |
| | Calyx | · EA | $24.99 | 471 88% | 14k | $353k (exactly $353,109) | Studio 568 |
| | Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown | $27.99 | 374 54% | 11k | $314k (exactly $314,048) | Zugalu Entertainment | |
| | Rift Riff | $12.99 | 367 94% | 11k | $143k (exactly $143,020) | Adriaan de Jongh, Sim Kaart, Matthijs K… (Adriaan de Jongh, Sim Kaart, Matthijs Koster, Franz LaZerte, Professional Panda) | |
| | Ascent of Ashes | · EA | $14.99 | 268 68% | 8.0k | $121k (exactly $120,520) | Vivid Storm Interactive |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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