Games › Simulation › Simulation + World War II
Should I ship a WWII Simulation game?
Simulation + World War II
Of 47 developers who shipped a WWII Simulation 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.. 85 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $15k, ×24 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.4k; 1 in 20 cleared $1.2M, ×2027 the market median. Revenue is up 2600% on the market; 85 games are announced against 26 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) |
|---|---|
| Median | $15k (exactly $14,840) |
| Top 25% | $188k (exactly $188,037) |
| Top 5% | $1.3M (exactly $1,273,076) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 47 |
| Released games | 401 |
| Announced | 85 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $14.99 |
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 2600% on the market, supply 15% 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.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- World War II
- 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
- Simulation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Wargame, Action
- Price point
- $14.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Realistic, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 26,501 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.4k. 7 in 10 of the 26 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 85 games are announced against 26 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Hearts of Iron IV 2016 · $412M 
Hell Let Loose 2021 · $149M 
Company of Heroes 2 2013 · $41M 
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 2014 · $32M 
UBOAT 2024 · $23M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hearts of Iron IV | older | $49.99 | 274,901 90% | 8.2M | $412M (exactly $412,269,030) | Paradox Development Studio |
| | Hell Let Loose | older | $49.99 | 99,628 83% | 3.0M | $149M (exactly $149,412,112) | Expression Games |
| | Company of Heroes 2 | older | $19.99 | 68,909 80% | 2.1M | $41M (exactly $41,324,727) | Relic Entertainment, Feral Interactive… (Relic Entertainment, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | Men of War: Assault Squad 2 | older | $29.99 | 35,744 91% | 1.1M | $32M (exactly $32,158,877) | Digitalmindsoft |
| | UBOAT | older | $29.99 | 25,568 83% | 767k | $23M (exactly $23,003,530) | Deep Water Studio |
 | Sniper Elite 3 | older | $29.99 | 21,407 82% | 642k | $19M (exactly $19,259,878) | Rebellion |
 | Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad with Rising Storm | older | $19.99 | 24,876 93% | 746k | $15M (exactly $14,918,137) | Tripwire Interactive |
 | IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad | older | $49.99 | 8,749 79% | 262k | $13M (exactly $13,120,875) | FOR-GAMES CR LTD |
 | Squad 44 | older | $19.99 | 18,945 78% | 568k | $11M (exactly $11,361,316) | Offworld |
 | Steel Division 2 | older | $39.99 | 8,061 79% | 242k | $9.7M (exactly $9,670,782) | Eugen Systems |
 | IRON NEST: Heavy Turret Simulator | $19.99 | 13,278 97% | 398k | $8.0M (exactly $7,962,817) | Nick Nieuwoudt, Dominik Latos | |
 | Call to Arms: Panzer Elite | · EA | $29.99 | 1,927 69% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,733,722) | Digitalmindsoft |
 | Ground of Aces | · EA | $29.99 | 1,415 84% | 42k | $1.3M (exactly $1,273,076) | Blindflug Studios AG |
 | Aces of Thunder | $29.99 | 1,159 57% | 35k | $1.0M (exactly $1,042,752) | Gaijin Entertainment | |
 | KAISERPUNK | $29.99 | 884 71% | 27k | $795k (exactly $795,335) | Overseer Games | |
 | SimplePlanes 2 | · EA | $19.99 | 1,316 92% | 39k | $789k (exactly $789,205) | Jundroo, LLC |
 | Age of History 2: Definitive Edition | $9.99 | 2,600 83% | 78k | $779k (exactly $779,220) | Łukasz Jakowski | |
 | Task Force Admiral - Vol.1: American Carrier Battles | · EA | $39.99 | 633 87% | 19k | $759k (exactly $759,410) | Drydock Dreams Games |
 | Tank Squad | $19.99 | 847 70% | 25k | $508k (exactly $507,946) | DeGenerals S.A. | |
 | Click and Conquer | $4.99 | 2,442 92% | 73k | $366k (exactly $365,567) | SOCKHOUSE STUDIOS |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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