Games › Action-Adventure › Action-Adventure + Shoot 'Em Up
Should I ship a Shoot 'Em Up Action-Adventure?
Action-Adventure + Shoot 'Em Up
Of 205 developers who shipped a Shoot 'Em Up Action-Adventure 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.. 312 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $420 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 111 developers shipped in the last year and 312 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $298 (exactly $298) |
| Top 25% | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) |
| Top 5% | $50k (exactly $50,358) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 205 |
| Released games | 773 |
| Announced | 312 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 flat on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Action-Adventure
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Shoot 'Em Up
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Action-Adventure, Shoot 'Em Up; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 66% positive over 7,220 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 113 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 312 games are announced against 111 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action-Adventure with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + BikesFair
- + TransportationFair
- + MotorbikeFair
- + TypingLong shot
- + Time AttackLong shot
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Villain ProtagonistPoor odds
Comparable games
POSTAL 4: No Regerts 2022 · $6.5M 
Journey To The Savage Planet 2021 · $5.1M 
Saints Row®: The Third™ Remastered 2021 · $3.6M 
HARD BULLET 2020 · EA · $3.5M 
Metro Awakening 2024 · $2.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | POSTAL 4: No Regerts | older | $19.99 | 10,855 67% | 326k | $6.5M (exactly $6,509,743) | Running With Scissors |
| | Journey To The Savage Planet | older | $29.99 | 5,674 87% | 170k | $5.1M (exactly $5,104,898) | Typhoon |
| | Saints Row®: The Third™ Remastered | older | $29.99 | 3,968 73% | 119k | $3.6M (exactly $3,570,010) | Deep Silver Volition, Sperasoft |
| | HARD BULLET | · EA older | $19.99 | 5,860 83% | 176k | $3.5M (exactly $3,514,242) | GexagonVR |
| | Metro Awakening | $29.99 | 3,013 73% | 90k | $2.7M (exactly $2,710,796) | Vertigo Games | |
 | Squirrel with a Gun | older | $19.99 | 3,112 86% | 93k | $1.9M (exactly $1,866,266) | Dee Dee Creations LLC |
 | Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef | older | $19.99 | 2,586 87% | 78k | $1.6M (exactly $1,550,824) | Rogueside |
 | After the Fall® | older | $19.99 | 2,572 76% | 77k | $1.5M (exactly $1,542,428) | Vertigo Games |
 | Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime | older | $14.99 | 3,368 93% | 101k | $1.5M (exactly $1,514,590) | Asteroid Base |
 | Zombotron | older | $14.99 | 2,974 89% | 89k | $1.3M (exactly $1,337,408) | Ant.Karlov Games |
 | Beyond Sandbox | · EA | $19.99 | 1,223 39% | 37k | $733k (exactly $733,433) | Atlas XR |
 | BLACKWOOD | $24.99 | 565 46% | 17k | $424k (exactly $423,580) | AttritoM7 Productions | |
 | Whisker Squadron: Survivor | $19.99 | 485 77% | 15k | $291k (exactly $290,854) | Flippfly LLC | |
 | Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster | $29.99 | 230 93% | 6.9k | $207k (exactly $206,931) | LucasArts, Nightdive Studios | |
 | Ultimate Zombie Defense 2 | $9.99 | 589 76% | 18k | $177k (exactly $176,523) | Terror Dog Studio | |
 | Wild Blue Skies | $14.99 | 251 58% | 7.5k | $113k (exactly $112,875) | Chuhai Labs, VITEI BACKROOM Inc. | |
 | Cyberwar: Neon City | · EA | $17.99 | 171 90% | 5.1k | $92k (exactly $92,289) | Cyber Monkey Studios |
 | Missing Banban | $9.99 | 294 92% | 8.8k | $88k (exactly $88,112) | Simon Carny | |
 | Time Treker | $6.99 | 399 65% | 12k | $84k (exactly $83,670) | Fuse Game |
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.