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Should I ship a Tower Defense Tactical RPG?
Tactical RPG + Tower Defense
Of 47 developers who shipped a Tower Defense Tactical 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.. 65 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $420; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×219 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 65 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $418 (exactly $418) |
|---|---|
| Median | $899 (exactly $899) |
| Top 25% | $7.8k (exactly $7,792) |
| Top 5% | $138k (exactly $137,515) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 47 |
| Released games | 133 |
| Announced | 65 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 70% on the market, supply 10% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tactical RPG
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Tower Defense
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Tactical RPG, Tower Defense; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, RPG, Auto Battler
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 2,348 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 9 in 10 of the 31 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 65 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + Space SimFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
The Last Spell 2023 · $9.9M 
Kingdom Rush Vengeance - Tower Defense 2020 · $5.9M 
ENDLESS Dungeon™ - Definitive Edition 2023 · $1.3M 
Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (DX edition) 2012 · $1.2M 
Touhou Monster TD ~ 幻想乡妖怪塔防 2021 · $540k | 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 |
| | Kingdom Rush Vengeance - Tower Defense | older | $19.99 | 9,906 93% | 297k | $5.9M (exactly $5,940,628) | Ironhide Game Studio |
| | ENDLESS Dungeon™ - Definitive Edition | older | $14.99 | 2,953 64% | 89k | $1.3M (exactly $1,327,964) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
| | Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (DX edition) | older | $14.99 | 2,722 94% | 82k | $1.2M (exactly $1,224,083) | Level Up Labs, LLC |
| | Touhou Monster TD ~ 幻想乡妖怪塔防 | older | $18.99 | 948 90% | 28k | $540k (exactly $540,076) | MyACG Studio |
 | Titanium Court | $14.99 | 1,094 94% | 33k | $492k (exactly $491,972) | AP Thomson | |
 | Dwerve | older | $19.99 | 426 70% | 13k | $255k (exactly $255,472) | Half Human Games |
 | Prime World: Defenders | older | $9.99 | 729 78% | 22k | $218k (exactly $218,481) | Nival |
 | Alien Shooter TD | older | $9.99 | 676 84% | 20k | $203k (exactly $202,597) | Sigma Team Inc. |
 | Love n War: Warlord by Chance | older | $4.99 | 1,305 86% | 39k | $195k (exactly $195,358) | Reborn Entertainment |
 | Defender's Quest 2: Mists of Ruin | $19.99 | 242 61% | 7.3k | $145k (exactly $145,127) | Level Up Labs, LLC | |
 | Hive Blight | · EA | $12.49 | 367 94% | 11k | $138k (exactly $137,515) | OptizOnion |
 | Cyber Tower 2048 | $29.99 | 92 88% | 2.8k | $83k (exactly $82,772) | Galactic Geckon | |
 | MOCHI-O | $4.99 | 231 99% | 6.9k | $35k (exactly $34,581) | Zxima | |
 | ELARIENNE | $7.99 | 93 61% | 2.8k | $22k (exactly $22,292) | JDL | |
 | Elemental Master: Heroes Assemble | $9.99 | 68 50% | 2.0k | $20k (exactly $20,380) | DeepDream Studio | |
 | Scarecropia | $9.99 | 42 88% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $12,587) | JYP Studio | |
 | Live Hard, Die Hard | $4.99 | 83 89% | 2.5k | $12k (exactly $12,425) | Asobism.Co.,Ltd | |
 | Undefined Game Pack | $9.99 | 36 94% | 1.1k | $11k (exactly $10,789) | Undefined |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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