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Should I ship a Tower Defense Trading Card Game?
Trading Card Game + Tower Defense
Only 6 developers shipped a Tower Defense 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, Islets Defense, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 11 more are announced, ×5.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
Only 2 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $3.4k against a market of $630. 11 games are announced.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $240 (exactly $240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.4k (exactly $3,358) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $16,300) |
| Top 5% | $39k (exactly $38,661) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 6 |
| Released games | 32 |
| Announced | 11 |
| 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 50% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 34%, 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
- Tower Defense
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Trading Card Game, Tower Defense
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 11,609 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 11 games are announced against 2 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.5 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 
Variables 2 2021 · $188k 
Gnomes Garden 2015 · $118k 
Castle Cardians 2021 · EA · $51k 
MechDefender - Tower Defense 2020 · $41k | 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 |
| | Variables 2 | older | $14.99 | 418 90% | 13k | $188k (exactly $187,975) | Asteroid Game Studio |
| | Gnomes Garden | older | $14.99 | 262 87% | 7.9k | $118k (exactly $117,821) | Workroom7, Creobit |
| | Castle Cardians | · EA older | $14.99 | 113 72% | 3.4k | $51k (exactly $50,816) | 风宇冲 |
| | MechDefender - Tower Defense | older | $4.99 | 272 76% | 8.2k | $41k (exactly $40,718) | Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi |
 | Islets Defense | $9.99 | 129 94% | 3.9k | $39k (exactly $38,661) | MiniGoof | |
 | Control Craft 3 | older | $4.99 | 235 73% | 7.1k | $35k (exactly $35,180) | Cristian Manolachi, Atomic Fabrik |
 | Emerge: Cities of the Apocalypse | older | $7.99 | 144 65% | 4.3k | $35k (exactly $34,517) | Emilios Manolidis |
 | 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 |
 | Meta Card Backpack Legend | $7.99 | 68 97% | 2.0k | $16k (exactly $16,300) | KY Games | |
 | Kemotaku | $15.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $3.4k (exactly $3,358) | Kojika Games | |
 | All-Front Assault | $8.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $270 (exactly $270) | Star Heart Workshop | |
 | Card TD | · EA | $7.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $240 (exactly $240) | Banished Crown Studios |
 | Land of Anima: Origin of Union | $9.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | NHS_Projects |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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