Do I ship it?

Games › Shooter › Shooter + 2D Fighter

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a 2D Fighter Shooter?

Shooter + 2D Fighter

Of 94 developers who shipped a 2D Fighter Shooter 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.. 105 more are announced, ×2.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $210 in the last 2 years and $180 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 52 developers shipped in the last year and 105 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 140% on the market, 105 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Shooter + 2D Fighter
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 94
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $298 → $0 → $150 → $150 → $179 → $60 → $597 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Shooter + 2D Fighter: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 94
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $210 (exactly $210)
Top 25% $959 (exactly $959)
Top 5% $7.4k (exactly $7,431)
Developers, 2 yr 94
Released games 296
Announced 105
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $4.99

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 140% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Shooter
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
2D Fighter
effort 5 / 10 · low · frame-precise animation and rollback netcode

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Shooter, 2D Fighter; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, PvP
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute, Funny
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 650 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $210, 1 in 4 over $950, 1 in 20 over $7.4k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 56 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 105 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Dating SimFair23 devs · median $9.8k · 17 announced
  2. + CollectathonFair69 devs · median $1.4k · 64 announced
  3. + VampiresFair38 devs · median $1.3k · 41 announced
  4. + Walking SimulatorFair68 devs · median $1.2k · 62 announced
  5. + IdlerFair70 devs · median $836 · 59 announced
  6. + Match 3Fair15 devs · median $719 · 5 announced
  7. + SnowFair22 devs · median $570 · 23 announced
  8. + Boss RushFair16 devs · median $537 · 20 announced
  9. + IncrementalFair85 devs · median $479 · 88 announced
  10. + ArcadeLong shot1,151 devs · median $419 · 1,332 announced
  11. + Score AttackLong shot372 devs · median $300 · 352 announced
  12. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds25 devs · median $139k · 45 announced

All 229 pairs on the Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Stick Fight: The Game 2017 · $15M The Shadow of Yidhra 2021 · $447k Sora 2016 · $104k Acceleration of SUGURI 2 2018 · $76k NEOGEO POCKET COLOR SELECTION Vol. 1 Steam Edition 2021 · $66k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Stick Fight: The Game older $4.99 99,952 93% 3.0M $15M (exactly $14,962,814) Landfall West
The Shadow of Yidhra older $10.99 1,355 89% 41k $447k (exactly $446,744) WhitePeach
Sora older $8.99 384 94% 12k $104k (exactly $103,565) Orange_Juice
Acceleration of SUGURI 2 older $8.99 283 92% 8.5k $76k (exactly $76,325) Orange_Juice
NEOGEO POCKET COLOR SELECTION Vol. 1 Steam Edition older $39.99 55 90% 1.7k $66k (exactly $65,984) SNK CORPORATION, Code Mystics
Astro Duel 2 older $19.99 59 100% 1.8k $35k (exactly $35,382) Rusty Moyher
Chaos Faction Legacy Collection $4.99 234 93% 7.0k $35k (exactly $35,030) George "EON" Eade
Rubber Hose Rampage older $9.99 115 53% 3.5k $34k (exactly $34,466) Revie Studios
极乐不羡仙 $5.99 164 65% 4.9k $29k (exactly $29,471) 仙常居ソフト
Nurose · EA older $9.99 90 87% 2.7k $27k (exactly $26,973) Orongto
X-Out: Resurfaced $19.99 41 95% 1.2k $25k (exactly $24,588) KRITZELKRATZ 3000, Rainbow Arts
CPU Invaders - 3i Atlas $4.99 77 98% 2.3k $12k (exactly $11,527) Microblast Games
MAGE: Mega Awesome Gregarious Encounters $9.99 29 89% 870 $8.7k (exactly $8,691) FunRug Studio
Wink Out · EA $7.99 31 100% 930 $7.4k (exactly $7,431) Clevergence Games
Byte The Bullet $5.99 38 92% 1.1k $6.8k (exactly $6,829) Esteban Marin
Pulsar Crash $14.99 10 100% 300 $4.5k (exactly $4,497) Little Doctor Games
Survalker $9.99 14 85% 420 $4.2k (exactly $4,196) Gamesforgames
HeadHunters $9.99 12 100% 360 $3.6k (exactly $3,596) Sumalab

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