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Should I ship a War Resource Management game?
Resource Management + War
Of 126 developers who shipped a War Resource Management 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.. 305 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×3.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $420; 1 in 20 cleared $1.2M, ×2027 the market median. Revenue is up 70% on the market; 305 games are announced against 78 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $418 (exactly $418) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,156) |
| Top 25% | $19k (exactly $19,429) |
| Top 5% | $1.3M (exactly $1,273,076) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 126 |
| Released games | 346 |
| Announced | 305 |
| 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 up 70% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Resource Management
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- War
- 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
- Resource Management; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, RTS, Simulation
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 70% positive over 84,421 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 7 in 10 of the 56 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 305 games are announced against 78 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Resource Management with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + WesternFair
- + SnowFair
- + JRPGFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + HorsesFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
Comparable games
Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition 2021 · $87M 
Northgard: Definitive Edition 2018 · $57M 
This War of Mine 2014 · $49M 
Europa Universalis V 2025 · $46M 
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition 2020 · $39M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition | older | $39.99 | 72,275 85% | 2.2M | $87M (exactly $86,708,318) | World's Edge, Relic Entertainment, Forg… (World's Edge, Relic Entertainment, Forgotten Empires, Climax Studios) |
| | Northgard: Definitive Edition | older | $34.99 | 54,478 85% | 1.6M | $57M (exactly $57,185,557) | Shiro Games |
| | This War of Mine | older | $19.99 | 81,804 93% | 2.5M | $49M (exactly $49,057,859) | 11 bit studios |
| | Europa Universalis V | $59.99 | 25,353 66% | 761k | $46M (exactly $45,627,794) | Paradox Tinto | |
| | Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition | older | $34.99 | 37,093 84% | 1.1M | $39M (exactly $38,936,522) | World's Edge, Tantalus Media, Forgotten… (World's Edge, Tantalus Media, Forgotten Empires) |
 | Broken Arrow | $49.99 | 25,924 55% | 778k | $39M (exactly $38,878,223) | Steel Balalaika | |
 | ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV | older | $59.99 | 13,086 62% | 393k | $24M (exactly $23,550,874) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
 | Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII | older | $59.99 | 5,828 57% | 175k | $10M (exactly $10,488,652) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
 | Diplomacy is Not an Option | $29.99 | 10,904 85% | 327k | $9.8M (exactly $9,810,329) | Door 407 | |
 | Starship Troopers: Terran Command | older | $29.99 | 9,214 87% | 276k | $8.3M (exactly $8,289,836) | The Artistocrats |
 | Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition | $19.99 | 10,627 92% | 319k | $6.4M (exactly $6,373,012) | Firefly Studios | |
 | Tower Dominion | $17.49 | 5,117 85% | 154k | $2.7M (exactly $2,684,890) | Parallel 45 Games | |
 | Nordhold | $19.99 | 2,875 87% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,724,137) | StunForge | |
 | Ground of Aces | · EA | $29.99 | 1,415 84% | 42k | $1.3M (exactly $1,273,076) | Blindflug Studios AG |
 | Empire of the Ants | $39.99 | 931 73% | 28k | $1.1M (exactly $1,116,921) | Tower Five | |
 | KAISERPUNK | $29.99 | 884 71% | 27k | $795k (exactly $795,335) | Overseer Games | |
 | Geo-Political Simulator 5 | $59.99 | 391 34% | 12k | $704k (exactly $703,683) | Eversim |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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