Games › Trading Card Game › Trading Card Game + Sci-fi
Should I ship a Sci-fi Trading Card Game?
Trading Card Game + Sci-fi
Only 14 developers shipped a paid Sci-fi Trading Card 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, Villages & Dungeons, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 4 in 10 of the games here are free to play and sit outside these figures. 42 more are announced, ×4.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 9 developers shipped in the last year and 42 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 25% | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) |
| Top 5% | $217k (exactly $217,249) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 55 |
| Announced | 42 |
| 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 40%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Trading Card Game
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Sci-fi
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Trading Card Game
- Price point
- $7.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 1,081 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 42 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Trading Card Game with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Immersive SimStrong odds
- + SandboxFair
- + Inventory ManagementFair
- + Procedural GenerationPoor odds
- + TradingPoor odds
- + Life SimPoor odds
- + CollectathonPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Auto BattlerPoor odds
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
Comparable games
Ascension: Deckbuilding Game 2014 · $430k 
Villages & Dungeons 2025 · $217k 
System Crash 2016 · $112k 
Zero Division 2024 · $106k 
Beyond Gravity 2014 · $47k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ascension: Deckbuilding Game | older | $9.99 | 1,435 88% | 43k | $430k (exactly $430,070) | Playdek, Inc. |
| | Villages & Dungeons | $6.99 | 1,036 91% | 31k | $217k (exactly $217,249) | CaCaFrog Studio | |
| | System Crash | older | $14.99 | 250 83% | 7.5k | $112k (exactly $112,425) | Rogue Moon Studios |
| | Zero Division | older | $12.99 | 271 87% | 8.1k | $106k (exactly $105,609) | Robot Cat Limited |
| | Beyond Gravity | older | $1.99 | 789 88% | 24k | $47k (exactly $47,103) | Qwiboo Ltd |
 | CyberTD | older | $19.99 | 50 66% | 1.5k | $30k (exactly $29,985) | Clockwork Origins |
 | Cartridge Defense | older | $11.99 | 80 91% | 2.4k | $29k (exactly $28,776) | Out Gaming |
 | Ariokan™ - create your cards, break the Meta | $29.99 | 18 94% | 540 | $16k (exactly $16,195) | Fatum Games SL | |
 | SEARCH ALL - ADULT | older | $9.99 | 49 67% | 1.5k | $15k (exactly $14,685) | Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich |
 | SEARCH ALL - FOXES | older | $2.99 | 107 92% | 3.2k | $9.6k (exactly $9,598) | Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich |
 | Becoming Captain - The Roguelike Deckbuilder | $10.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $2.3k (exactly $2,308) | Le Havre Création | |
 | Cyber Quest | $7.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) | Super Punch Games | |
 | DraQu: Elemental Awakening | · EA | $7.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $719 (exactly $719) | ALTF4 Games |
 | Loopweavers: Dimensional Alliances | $8.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $539 (exactly $539) | Alejandro Rodríguez Fernández | |
 | Mech EVO | $9.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | Benedict King | |
 | Alpha Genesis | · EA | $4.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | Estro.Games |
 | Lottery vs Aliens | $2.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $269 (exactly $269) | stephii | |
 | Woj's:Threads of Time | $3.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $239 (exactly $239) | Heyup Duck Studios |
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.