Games › Real-Time with Pause › Real-Time with Pause + Roguelite
Should I ship a Roguelite Real-Time with Pause game?
Real-Time with Pause + Roguelite
Only 15 developers shipped a Roguelite Real-Time with Pause 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, Void War, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 26 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $16k, ×11 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $11k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.1M, ×1462 the market median. Revenue is up 200% on the market; 26 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $11k (exactly $10,793) |
|---|---|
| Median | $16k (exactly $16,484) |
| Top 25% | $219k (exactly $219,118) |
| Top 5% | $2.2M (exactly $2,190,704) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 38 |
| Announced | 26 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $13.99 |
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 up 200% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 3%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Real-Time with Pause
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Roguelite
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Real-Time with Pause, Roguelite; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelike, Survival
- Price point
- $13.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Difficult, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $13.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 6,796 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $11k. 6 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 26 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Real-Time with Pause with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + CombatStrong odds
- + ActionFair
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + AdventurePoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + ExplorationPoor odds
- + Choices MatterPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + MedievalPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + SurvivalPoor odds
Comparable games
FTL: Faster Than Light 2012 · $19M 
Heat Signature 2017 · $3.1M 
Crying Suns 2019 · $2.4M 
Void War 2025 · $2.2M 
Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand 2026 · $913k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | FTL: Faster Than Light | older | $9.99 | 62,763 94% | 1.9M | $19M (exactly $18,810,071) | Subset Games |
| | Heat Signature | older | $14.99 | 6,849 94% | 205k | $3.1M (exactly $3,079,995) | Suspicious Developments |
| | Crying Suns | older | $24.99 | 3,149 85% | 94k | $2.4M (exactly $2,360,805) | Alt Shift |
| | Void War | $19.99 | 3,653 94% | 110k | $2.2M (exactly $2,190,704) | Tundra | |
| | 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 | |
 | From Glory To Goo | · EA older | $11.99 | 1,794 96% | 54k | $645k (exactly $645,302) | Stratagem Blue |
 | Deadly Days | older | $11.99 | 1,388 86% | 42k | $499k (exactly $499,264) | Pixelsplit |
 | Battlevoid: Harbinger | older | $9.99 | 933 79% | 28k | $280k (exactly $279,620) | Bugbyte Ltd. |
 | Escape The Mad Empire | · EA | $17.99 | 406 88% | 12k | $219k (exactly $219,118) | XperimentalZ Games |
 | Here Comes The Swarm | · EA | $19.99 | 358 84% | 11k | $215k (exactly $214,693) | CableHook Games |
 | Deep Among the Swarm | $8.99 | 132 85% | 4.0k | $36k (exactly $35,600) | Pebble Mountain Games | |
 | Dread Admiral | $13.99 | 59 89% | 1.8k | $25k (exactly $24,762) | Tescrin Games | |
 | Deadlock Station | $9.99 | 55 80% | 1.7k | $16k (exactly $16,484) | Luxorix Games | |
 | NovaMundi | $12.99 | 38 81% | 1.1k | $15k (exactly $14,809) | Slashware Interactive | |
 | Reclaim The Sea | $11.99 | 41 75% | 1.2k | $15k (exactly $14,748) | 1LastGame |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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