Games › Trading Card Game › Trading Card Game + Turn-Based Tactics
Should I ship a Turn-Based Tactics Trading Card Game?
Trading Card Game + Turn-Based Tactics
Of 78 developers who shipped a paid Turn-Based Tactics Trading Card 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.. 4 in 10 of the games here are free to play and sit outside these figures. 183 more are announced, ×4.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $85k, ×136 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 183 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $450 (exactly $450) |
| Top 25% | $4.3k (exactly $4,316) |
| Top 5% | $85k (exactly $85,472) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 78 |
| Released games | 264 |
| Announced | 183 |
| 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 70% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 44%, 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
- Turn-Based Tactics
- 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, Turn-Based Tactics; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Card Battler, Card Game
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 3,929 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 8 in 10 of the 50 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 183 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.1 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
Dream of Corpse Lady 2026 · $634k 
Nowhere Prophet 2019 · $541k 
Rento Fortune: Online Dice Board Game (大富翁) 2017 · $459k 
Rogue Voltage 2026 · $284k 
Erannorth Chronicles 2021 · $256k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dream of Corpse Lady | $9.99 | 2,115 93% | 63k | $634k (exactly $633,866) | HT3 Studio | |
| | Nowhere Prophet | older | $24.99 | 721 77% | 22k | $541k (exactly $540,534) | Sharkbomb Studios |
| | Rento Fortune: Online Dice Board Game (大富翁) | older | $4.99 | 3,063 50% | 92k | $459k (exactly $458,531) | LAN - GAMES LTD |
| | Rogue Voltage | $15.99 | 593 92% | 18k | $284k (exactly $284,462) | Horizont Computergrafik | |
| | Erannorth Chronicles | older | $20.99 | 407 85% | 12k | $256k (exactly $256,288) | Spyridon Thalassinos |
 | Cardaclysm | older | $14.99 | 425 64% | 13k | $191k (exactly $191,122) | Elder Games |
 | Variables 2 | older | $14.99 | 418 90% | 13k | $188k (exactly $187,975) | Asteroid Game Studio |
 | Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers | $9.99 | 543 65% | 16k | $163k (exactly $162,737) | Dino Rocket | |
 | Zero Division | older | $12.99 | 271 87% | 8.1k | $106k (exactly $105,609) | Robot Cat Limited |
 | Culdcept The First | $29.99 | 95 74% | 2.9k | $85k (exactly $85,472) | CITY CONNECTION | |
 | Water Margin Scrolls | $9.99 | 244 40% | 7.3k | $73k (exactly $73,127) | QingHe Games | |
 | Isle of Swaps | $14.99 | 129 90% | 3.9k | $58k (exactly $58,011) | Fuzz Force | |
 | Islets Defense | $9.99 | 129 94% | 3.9k | $39k (exactly $38,661) | MiniGoof | |
 | Card Summoner | $14.99 | 32 50% | 960 | $14k (exactly $14,390) | Happenstance Games | |
 | Areteion | $19.99 | 17 94% | 510 | $10k (exactly $10,195) | juxtapositioned | |
 | Musicmenia | $9.99 | 32 90% | 960 | $9.6k (exactly $9,590) | Symphonic Games |
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.