Games › Tactical › Tactical + Tabletop
Should I ship a Tabletop Tactical game?
Tactical + Tabletop
Of 170 developers who shipped a Tabletop Tactical 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.. 234 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $630, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $85k, ×136 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 234 games are announced against 118 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $629 (exactly $629) |
| Top 25% | $5.4k (exactly $5,396) |
| Top 5% | $85k (exactly $85,472) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 170 |
| Released games | 460 |
| Announced | 234 |
| 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 50% on the market, supply 115% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, 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, Tabletop; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Turn-Based Tactics, Turn-Based Strategy
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 4,746 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 76 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 234 games are announced against 118 developers who shipped in the last year.
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
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus 2018 · $10M 
Ultimate General: Civil War 2017 · $7.5M 
Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition (Classic) 2017 · $6.4M 
TRIANGLE STRATEGY 2022 · $5.8M 
Blood Bowl 3 2023 · $3.5M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus | older | $29.99 | 11,279 91% | 338k | $10M (exactly $10,147,716) | Bulwark Studios |
| | Ultimate General: Civil War | older | $29.99 | 8,331 88% | 250k | $7.5M (exactly $7,495,401) | Game-Labs |
| | Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition (Classic) | older | $29.99 | 7,077 78% | 212k | $6.4M (exactly $6,367,177) | Cyanide Studios |
| | TRIANGLE STRATEGY | older | $59.99 | 3,239 78% | 97k | $5.8M (exactly $5,829,228) | Square Enix, ARTDINK |
| | Blood Bowl 3 | older | $29.99 | 3,940 51% | 118k | $3.5M (exactly $3,544,818) | Cyanide Studio |
 | Scythe: Digital Edition | older | $19.99 | 3,164 89% | 95k | $1.9M (exactly $1,897,451) | The Knights of Unity |
 | Tabletop Tavern | $19.99 | 2,049 89% | 61k | $1.2M (exactly $1,228,785) | TJ | |
 | Through the Ages | older | $15.99 | 2,188 90% | 66k | $1.0M (exactly $1,049,584) | CGE Digital |
 | The Troop | older | $39.99 | 816 83% | 24k | $979k (exactly $978,955) | Giant Flame |
 | Just Go | older | $9.99 | 3,227 92% | 97k | $967k (exactly $967,132) | Studio Amateur |
 | Inkshade | $19.99 | 620 87% | 19k | $372k (exactly $371,814) | Studio Vezelle | |
 | NUTMEG! A Nostalgic Deckbuilding Football Manager | $24.99 | 378 89% | 11k | $283k (exactly $283,387) | Sumo Digital, Sumo Digital Academy | |
 | The Conquest of Go | $14.99 | 581 94% | 17k | $261k (exactly $261,276) | Wolfey Studios | |
 | Strategos | · EA | $24.99 | 233 85% | 7.0k | $175k (exactly $174,680) | Strategos Games |
 | Drop Pockets | · EA | $14.99 | 243 83% | 7.3k | $109k (exactly $109,277) | Children of Madness |
 | Cascadia | $14.99 | 210 98% | 6.3k | $94k (exactly $94,437) | Dire Wolf | |
 | Master of Piece | · EA | $14.99 | 197 86% | 5.9k | $89k (exactly $88,591) | I M GAME, I M fine |
 | Culdcept The First | $29.99 | 95 74% | 2.9k | $85k (exactly $85,472) | CITY CONNECTION | |
 | Shields of Loyalty | $19.99 | 140 77% | 4.2k | $84k (exactly $83,958) | Mosaic Mask Studio |
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.