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Should I ship a Sailing Tactical game?
Tactical + Sailing
Only 13 developers shipped a Sailing Tactical 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, Rogue Waters, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 20 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $420; 1 in 20 cleared $850k, ×1368 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 20 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $419 (exactly $419) |
|---|---|
| Median | $898 (exactly $898) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,598) |
| Top 5% | $859k (exactly $859,214) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 37 |
| Announced | 20 |
| 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 55% on the market, supply 125% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 24%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical, Sailing; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Combat, Exploration
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 76% positive over 1,074 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 6 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 20 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + Farming SimFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Rogue Waters | $29.99 | 955 75% | 29k | $859k (exactly $859,214) | Ice Code Games | |
| | Out of Reach: Treasure Royale | older | $14.99 | 337 58% | 10k | $152k (exactly $151,549) | Space Boat Studios |
| | Tortuga - A Pirate's Tale | older | $24.99 | 132 51% | 4.0k | $99k (exactly $98,960) | Gaming Minds Studios |
| | Ships 2017 | older | $19.99 | 156 32% | 4.7k | $94k (exactly $93,553) | FragOut |
| | East India Company | older | $9.99 | 190 52% | 5.7k | $57k (exactly $56,943) | Nitro Games |
| | Here Be Dragons | older | $9.99 | 133 63% | 4.0k | $40k (exactly $39,860) | Red Zero Games |
| | Kingdom of Wreck Business | older | $9.99 | 127 31% | 3.8k | $38k (exactly $38,062) | WarZoneLab |
| | HEXSTORM: Tears of Arcadia | $8.99 | 56 75% | 1.7k | $15k (exactly $15,103) | Tearevo | |
| | Port Authority | $5.99 | 31 96% | 930 | $5.6k (exactly $5,571) | NFold Games | |
| | Pirates! Showdown: Enhanced Edition | · EA older | $9.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) | FlashPoint Games, LLC |
| | The EverFloating Island | $19.99 | 6 33% | 180 | $3.6k (exactly $3,598) | GU GAMES | |
| | Ship of the line | · EA | $7.99 | 9 88% | 270 | $2.2k (exactly $2,157) | YDS |
| | Old Salt | $14.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $899 (exactly $899) | Kneeshaw Developments, Never Board Games | |
| | Cool Game Pack | $4.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $898 (exactly $898) | COOL 2 Interactive | |
| | Legacy of Sail | $11.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $719 (exactly $719) | Hydran Software | |
| | Pirate Twist | · EA | $4.67 | 5 100% | 150 | $700 (exactly $700) | BTG Labs |
| | Hullbreaker | · EA | $6.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $419 (exactly $419) | Dalton |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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