Games › Action › Action + Mars
Should I ship a Mars Action game?
Action + Mars
Of 29 developers who shipped a Mars Action 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.. 40 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 14 developers shipped in the last year and 40 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 25% | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
| Top 5% | $53k (exactly $53,347) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 29 |
| Released games | 129 |
| Announced | 40 |
| 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 2050% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Action; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action Roguelike, Adventure, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 1990's, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 337 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 40 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Real-Time with PauseFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + PinballFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + BaseballFair
- + BilliardsFair
- + IdlerFair
- + TennisFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + TabletopFair
- + WuxiaPoor odds
Comparable games
DOOM 3 2012 · $2.7M 
Deliver Us Mars 2023 · $2.0M 
Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered 2018 · $2.0M 
Red Faction®: Armageddon™ 2011 · $1.6M 
Red Faction 2009 · $726k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | DOOM 3 | older | $9.99 | 9,133 85% | 274k | $2.7M (exactly $2,737,160) | id Software |
| | Deliver Us Mars | older | $29.99 | 2,271 74% | 68k | $2.0M (exactly $2,043,219) | KeokeN Interactive |
| | Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered | older | $19.99 | 3,385 79% | 102k | $2.0M (exactly $2,029,984) | Volition, KAIKO |
| | Red Faction®: Armageddon™ | older | $19.99 | 2,615 70% | 78k | $1.6M (exactly $1,568,215) | Volition |
| | Red Faction | older | $9.99 | 2,421 85% | 73k | $726k (exactly $725,574) | Volition |
 | The Technomancer | older | $9.99 | 2,288 68% | 69k | $686k (exactly $685,714) | Spiders |
 | Mars: War Logs | older | $4.99 | 2,450 75% | 74k | $367k (exactly $366,765) | Spiders |
 | Jamestown | older | $9.99 | 652 94% | 20k | $195k (exactly $195,404) | Final Form Games |
 | Waking Mars | older | $9.99 | 651 89% | 20k | $195k (exactly $195,105) | Tiger Style |
 | Chaser | older | $4.99 | 1,113 72% | 33k | $167k (exactly $166,616) | Cauldron |
 | Surviving Mars: Pioneer | $24.99 | 78 83% | 2.3k | $58k (exactly $58,477) | Bolverk Games | |
 | 1 Trait Escape | $9.99 | 178 97% | 5.3k | $53k (exactly $53,347) | Andrew Katz, Jeremy Collette | |
 | XENO WIPEOUT! | $9.99 | 34 79% | 1.0k | $10k (exactly $10,190) | Rama Studio | |
 | Saving Princess Of Mars | $14.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $4.9k (exactly $4,947) | Hrtz Games | |
 | Scionide | · EA | $14.99 | 7 71% | 210 | $3.1k (exactly $3,148) | SYONIX |
 | Project Neon | $19.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $3.0k (exactly $2,998) | FULLSET | |
 | Psychedelia: The Psychonaut | $17.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $2.2k (exactly $2,159) | Rohan Chapman von Wedel | |
 | Battle for Asciion | $4.99 | 12 91% | 360 | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) | Relevo | |
 | Off World Racing | · EA | $14.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $899 (exactly $899) | Off World Racing Company |
 | IRONBORNE | $4.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $898 (exactly $898) | Tres Interactive |
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.