Do I ship it?

Games › Action › Action + Spaceships

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Spaceship Action game?

Action + Spaceships

Of 49 developers who shipped a Spaceship 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.. 56 more are announced.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300, ×0.5 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90. Revenue is down 65% on the market, with 56 games announced against 32 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 65% on the market, 56 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Action + Spaceships
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 49
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $119 → $299 → $5.4k → $239 → $1.4k → $11k → $30 (still earning) → $599 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Action + Spaceships: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 49
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $300 (exactly $300)
Top 25% $3.3k (exactly $3,293)
Top 5% $512k (exactly $512,045)
Developers, 2 yr 49
Released games 149
Announced 56
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $8.99

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 65% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 6%, 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.

Action
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Spaceships
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Action; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Shooter, Adventure, Space Sim
Price point
$8.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, First-Person
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 17,015 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $90, median $300, 1 in 4 over $3.2k, 1 in 20 over $510k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. 8 in 10 of the 18 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 32 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Action with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Real-Time with PauseFair16 devs · median $103k · 18 announced
  2. + Job SimulatorFair25 devs · median $14k · 30 announced
  3. + PinballFair42 devs · median $2.6k · 48 announced
  4. + Escape RoomFair43 devs · median $1.8k · 40 announced
  5. + Football (American)Fair16 devs · median $1.3k · 6 announced
  6. + BaseballFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 12 announced
  7. + BilliardsFair19 devs · median $958 · 25 announced
  8. + IdlerFair225 devs · median $898 · 292 announced
  9. + TennisFair23 devs · median $628 · 12 announced
  10. + Time AttackFair90 devs · median $599 · 110 announced
  11. + TabletopFair71 devs · median $505 · 86 announced
  12. + WuxiaPoor odds9 devs · median $189k · 36 announced

All 288 pairs on the Action page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

STAR WARS™: Squadrons 2020 · $30M Jump Space 2025 · EA · $6.4M Wildgate 2025 · $4.5M Starpoint Gemini 2 2014 · $3.2M Chorus 2021 · $2.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
STAR WARS™: Squadrons older $39.99 25,086 66% 753k $30M (exactly $30,095,674) MOTIVE
Jump Space · EA $19.99 10,724 85% 322k $6.4M (exactly $6,431,183) Keepsake Games
Wildgate $29.99 5,032 77% 151k $4.5M (exactly $4,527,290) Moonshot Games
Starpoint Gemini 2 older $34.99 3,021 70% 91k $3.2M (exactly $3,171,144) Little Green Men Games
Chorus older $24.99 3,876 81% 116k $2.9M (exactly $2,905,837) Deep Silver Fishlabs
PULSAR: Lost Colony older $19.99 4,409 89% 132k $2.6M (exactly $2,644,077) Leafy Games
Star Valor older $24.99 3,272 88% 98k $2.5M (exactly $2,453,018) Rafael Burgos
Starship EVO · EA older $24.99 1,322 82% 40k $991k (exactly $991,103) Moonfire Entertainment
Starpoint Gemini 3 older $29.99 759 49% 23k $683k (exactly $682,872) Little Green Men Games
Infinity: Battlescape · EA older $34.99 640 79% 19k $672k (exactly $671,808) I-Novae Studios, LLC
Reality Break $24.99 683 80% 20k $512k (exactly $512,045) Element Games, LLC
BattleGroupVR2 · EA $24.99 209 85% 6.3k $157k (exactly $156,687) SpaceOwl Games
Star Vortex · EA $24.99 154 84% 4.6k $115k (exactly $115,454) Zorg Games
Quantum Void $11.99 69 95% 2.1k $25k (exactly $24,819) TacNours
eXoSpace Combat Engineer · EA $14.99 44 81% 1.3k $20k (exactly $19,787) Fantastimaker
Emerald Blue $9.99 43 100% 1.3k $13k (exactly $12,887) Emerald Blue Team
SUPERVERSE $9.99 37 70% 1.1k $11k (exactly $11,089) Superverse Industries
Space Menace 2 $9.99 20 75% 600 $6.0k (exactly $5,994) Only4Gamers

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