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Should I ship a Tactical RPG Trading Card Game?
Trading Card Game + Tactical RPG
Only 13 developers shipped a Tactical RPG 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, Water Margin Scrolls, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 25 more are announced, ×4.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $600, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $73k, ×116 the market median. Revenue is up 835% on the market; 25 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $598 (exactly $598) |
| Top 25% | $4.3k (exactly $4,286) |
| Top 5% | $73k (exactly $73,127) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 36 |
| Announced | 25 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 835% on the market, supply 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 33%, 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
- Tactical RPG
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Trading Card Game, Tactical RPG; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, RPG, Turn-Based Strategy
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Funny
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 49% positive over 312 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 25 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Trading Card Game with a different second tag, 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
Kingdom Rush Vengeance - Tower Defense 2020 · $5.9M 
Aces & Adventures 2023 · $1.3M 
Nowhere Prophet 2019 · $541k 
Arcanium: Rise of Akhan 2022 · $402k 
Children of Zodiarcs 2017 · $189k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Kingdom Rush Vengeance - Tower Defense | older | $19.99 | 9,906 93% | 297k | $5.9M (exactly $5,940,628) | Ironhide Game Studio |
| | Aces & Adventures | older | $19.99 | 2,220 89% | 67k | $1.3M (exactly $1,331,334) | Triple.B.Titles |
| | Nowhere Prophet | older | $24.99 | 721 77% | 22k | $541k (exactly $540,534) | Sharkbomb Studios |
| | Arcanium: Rise of Akhan | older | $19.99 | 670 81% | 20k | $402k (exactly $401,799) | Supercombo, Inc. |
| | Children of Zodiarcs | older | $17.99 | 351 69% | 11k | $189k (exactly $189,435) | Cardboard Utopia |
 | Water Margin Scrolls | $9.99 | 244 40% | 7.3k | $73k (exactly $73,127) | QingHe Games | |
 | XenoWorld ~The Rondeau of Astra~ | older | $10.99 | 112 75% | 3.4k | $37k (exactly $36,926) | IMaiIna_, INA |
 | Royal Merchant | older | $4.99 | 75 62% | 2.3k | $11k (exactly $11,228) | Badim |
 | Soul•Apocalypto | $11.99 | 20 80% | 600 | $7.2k (exactly $7,194) | 卜乙冈(Ploygon) | |
 | Dee-6: Dice Defenders | older | $4.99 | 45 73% | 1.4k | $6.7k (exactly $6,736) | KBA3u's factory |
 | Reptilian Rising | $29.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $6.3k (exactly $6,298) | Gregarious Games, Robot Circus, Hyper L… (Gregarious Games, Robot Circus, Hyper Luminal Games) | |
 | Mind of War | · EA | $10.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $4.3k (exactly $4,286) | Pi Video games |
 | CyCall | · EA | $12.99 | 8 75% | 240 | $3.1k (exactly $3,118) | PzGames |
 | Sketch Crawler | $7.00 | 11 72% | 330 | $2.3k (exactly $2,310) | Koan | |
 | Cardrottini | $3.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $598 (exactly $598) | Don Bobritto | |
 | Hexa Vanguard | $12.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $390 (exactly $390) | Hexa Devs | |
 | All-Front Assault | $8.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $270 (exactly $270) | Star Heart Workshop | |
 | SIN CARDS: Welcome to the Netherworld | $3.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $239 (exactly $239) | Wynand Smit |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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