Do I ship it?

Games › Turn-Based Strategy › Turn-Based Strategy + Traditional Roguelike

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Traditional Roguelike Turn-Based Strategy?

Turn-Based Strategy + Traditional Roguelike

Of 63 developers who shipped a Traditional Roguelike Turn-Based Strategy 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.. 101 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $780, ×1.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $150. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 101 games are announced against 51 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.2 times the market baseline, revenue up 35% on the market, 101 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Turn-Based Strategy + Traditional Roguelike
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 63
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $64k → $12k → $449 → $1.4k → $1.3k → $2.7k (still earning) → $359 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Turn-Based Strategy + Traditional Roguelike: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 63
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $779 (exactly $779)
Top 25% $5.4k (exactly $5,396)
Top 5% $133k (exactly $132,662)
Developers, 2 yr 63
Released games 120
Announced 101
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.99

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 35% on the market, supply 325% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Turn-Based Strategy
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Traditional Roguelike
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Turn-Based Strategy, Traditional Roguelike; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Strategy, RPG
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 90% positive over 3,185 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $780, 1 in 4 over $5.3k, 1 in 20 over $130k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 101 games are announced against 51 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Turn-Based Strategy with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + WuxiaFair12 devs · median $19k · 17 announced
  2. + Cold WarFair18 devs · median $9.9k · 22 announced
  3. + RomeFair15 devs · median $9.0k · 18 announced
  4. + LootFair86 devs · median $6.3k · 97 announced
  5. + MiningFair10 devs · median $4.5k · 14 announced
  6. + DwarvesFair7 devs · median $3.7k · 12 announced
  7. + IdlerFair50 devs · median $3.6k · 45 announced
  8. + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair43 devs · median $3.6k · 54 announced
  9. + TanksFair25 devs · median $3.0k · 24 announced
  10. + SokobanFair11 devs · median $2.1k · 11 announced
  11. + Top-Down ShooterFair13 devs · median $1.6k · 13 announced
  12. + SpaceFair107 devs · median $1.5k · 143 announced

All 187 pairs on the Turn-Based Strategy page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Low Magic Age 2017 · EA · $1.5M Tangledeep 2018 · $483k Rift Wizard 2 2025 · $446k Approaching Infinity 2025 · $390k Sword of the Stars: The Pit 2013 · $339k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Low Magic Age · EA older $14.99 3,342 89% 100k $1.5M (exactly $1,502,897) Low Magic Studios
Tangledeep older $14.99 1,075 82% 32k $483k (exactly $483,428) Impact Gameworks
Rift Wizard 2 $19.99 744 91% 22k $446k (exactly $446,177) Dylan White
Approaching Infinity $17.99 723 95% 22k $390k (exactly $390,203) IBOL
Sword of the Stars: The Pit older $9.99 1,132 83% 34k $339k (exactly $339,260) Kerberos Productions
Desktop Dungeons: Rewind older $19.99 501 75% 15k $300k (exactly $300,450) QCF Design
Prime of Flames older $9.99 923 84% 28k $277k (exactly $276,623) RAYKA STUDIO
Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos older $19.99 429 47% 13k $257k (exactly $257,271) Thomas Biskup, Jochen Terstiege, Krzysz… (Thomas Biskup, Jochen Terstiege, Krzysztof Dycha, Lucas Dieguez, Bastian von Gostomski, Carola Sochiera, Björn Loesing)
Monster Girls and the Mysterious Adventure 2 older $24.99 342 89% 10k $256k (exactly $256,397) NEKOTOKAGE GAMES
Rift Wizard 3 · EA $19.99 308 88% 9.2k $185k (exactly $184,708) Dylan White, Khoops, Jacob Martinez
Flick Shot Rogues $14.99 295 87% 8.9k $133k (exactly $132,662) Butter By The Fish
Forsworn $15.99 187 90% 5.6k $90k (exactly $89,704) Resummon Studios LLC
Backpack Dungeon $3.99 656 87% 20k $79k (exactly $78,523) 夜喵
Infinite Cards $15.99 96 93% 2.9k $46k (exactly $46,051) Tubby Turtle Studios
Indies' Lies 2: Fire Seed $14.99 73 67% 2.2k $33k (exactly $32,828) Fun Square Games
Bearly Brave $9.99 66 84% 2.0k $20k (exactly $19,780) Barbaric Games
Feywood Wanderers $14.99 37 86% 1.1k $17k (exactly $16,639) Vicente Miranda

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.