Games › RPG › RPG + Tower Defense
Should I ship a Tower Defense RPG?
RPG + Tower Defense
Of 153 developers who shipped a Tower Defense RPG 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.. 246 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.1k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $400k, ×649 the market median. Revenue is up 115% on the market; 246 games are announced against 87 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.1k (exactly $1,077) |
| Top 25% | $11k (exactly $10,789) |
| Top 5% | $408k (exactly $407,796) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 153 |
| Released games | 441 |
| Announced | 246 |
| 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 up 115% on the market, supply 30% 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.
- RPG
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Tower Defense
- 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
- RPG, Tower Defense; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelike, Base Building
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 22,026 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 74 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 246 games are announced against 87 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + IdlerFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + SportsFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + SamuraiPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
- + MinigamesPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
Comparable games
The Last Spell 2023 · $9.9M 
Night of the Dead 2024 · $9.3M 
Craft The World 2014 · $8.6M 
Cultivation Tales 2024 · $7.5M 
Orcs Must Die! 2 2012 · $5.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Last Spell | older | $24.99 | 13,260 91% | 398k | $9.9M (exactly $9,941,022) | Ishtar Games |
| | Night of the Dead | older | $29.99 | 10,380 77% | 311k | $9.3M (exactly $9,338,886) | Jackto Studios |
| | Craft The World | older | $18.99 | 15,074 88% | 452k | $8.6M (exactly $8,587,658) | Dekovir Entertainment, Sibear Games |
| | Cultivation Tales | older | $19.99 | 12,560 38% | 377k | $7.5M (exactly $7,532,232) | Ac Games |
| | Orcs Must Die! 2 | older | $14.99 | 12,924 92% | 388k | $5.8M (exactly $5,811,923) | Robot Entertainment |
 | The Front | $19.99 | 9,555 66% | 287k | $5.7M (exactly $5,730,134) | Samar Studio | |
 | Dungeon Defenders | older | $14.99 | 12,148 93% | 364k | $5.5M (exactly $5,462,956) | Chromatic Games |
 | Kingdom Rush - Tower Defense | older | $9.99 | 14,584 97% | 438k | $4.4M (exactly $4,370,825) | Ironhide Game Studio |
 | Dungeon of the ENDLESS™ | older | $11.99 | 9,419 87% | 283k | $3.4M (exactly $3,388,014) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
 | Kingdom Rush Origins - Tower Defense | older | $14.99 | 7,466 95% | 224k | $3.4M (exactly $3,357,460) | Ironhide Game Studio |
 | Lessaria: Fantasy Kingdom Sim | $24.90 | 2,938 77% | 88k | $2.2M (exactly $2,194,686) | Rockbee Team | |
 | Nordhold | $19.99 | 2,875 87% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,724,137) | StunForge | |
 | Dread Dawn | $19.99 | 2,113 71% | 63k | $1.3M (exactly $1,267,166) | Kioop | |
 | Gold Gold Adventure Gold | $24.99 | 907 70% | 27k | $680k (exactly $679,978) | Can Can Can a Man | |
 | Relic Guardian - Tower Defense | $19.99 | 981 94% | 29k | $588k (exactly $588,306) | Mystrigger | |
 | Human Host | · EA | $16.88 | 866 83% | 26k | $439k (exactly $438,542) | Virtual Matrix Studio |
 | Crown of Greed | $19.99 | 680 60% | 20k | $408k (exactly $407,796) | BLUM Entertainment | |
 | Machine Mind | $19.99 | 567 71% | 17k | $340k (exactly $340,030) | Chudo-Yudo Games | |
 | MINOS | $17.99 | 544 88% | 16k | $294k (exactly $293,597) | Artificer |
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.