Games › Adventure › Adventure + Tower Defense
Should I ship a Tower Defense Adventure game?
Adventure + Tower Defense
Of 172 developers who shipped a Tower Defense Adventure 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.. 251 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $750, ×1.6 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90; 1 in 20 cleared $170k, ×359 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 251 games are announced against 97 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $748 (exactly $748) |
| Top 25% | $7.8k (exactly $7,792) |
| Top 5% | $170k (exactly $170,315) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 172 |
| Released games | 548 |
| Announced | 251 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Adventure
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Tower Defense
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Adventure, Tower Defense; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, Base Building
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 10,672 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 93 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 251 games are announced against 97 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Adventure with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SamuraiFair
- + FMVFair
- + PinballFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Mini GolfFair
- + SportsFair
- + GolfFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
Comparable games
Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition 2009 · $21M 
Kingdom Two Crowns 2018 · $19M 
Dome Keeper 2022 · $10M 
Orcs Must Die! 3 2021 · $9.8M 
Craft The World 2014 · $8.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition | older | $4.99 | 143,506 97% | 4.3M | $21M (exactly $21,482,848) | PopCap Games, Inc. |
| | Kingdom Two Crowns | older | $19.99 | 31,259 90% | 938k | $19M (exactly $18,746,022) | Fury Studios, Coatsink |
| | Dome Keeper | older | $17.99 | 18,976 92% | 569k | $10M (exactly $10,241,347) | Bippinbits |
| | Orcs Must Die! 3 | older | $29.99 | 10,930 85% | 328k | $9.8M (exactly $9,833,721) | Robot Entertainment |
| | Craft The World | older | $18.99 | 15,074 88% | 452k | $8.6M (exactly $8,587,658) | Dekovir Entertainment, Sibear Games |
 | Cultivation Tales | older | $19.99 | 12,560 38% | 377k | $7.5M (exactly $7,532,232) | Ac Games |
 | Kingdom Rush 5: Alliance TD | older | $19.99 | 10,363 87% | 311k | $6.2M (exactly $6,214,691) | Ironhide Game Studio |
 | Kingdom Rush Vengeance - Tower Defense | older | $19.99 | 9,906 93% | 297k | $5.9M (exactly $5,940,628) | Ironhide Game Studio |
 | Orcs Must Die! 2 | older | $14.99 | 12,924 92% | 388k | $5.8M (exactly $5,811,923) | Robot Entertainment |
 | Kingdom: New Lands | older | $14.99 | 10,152 86% | 305k | $4.6M (exactly $4,565,354) | Noio |
 | Dread Dawn | $19.99 | 2,113 71% | 63k | $1.3M (exactly $1,267,166) | Kioop | |
 | The Spotter: Dig or Die | $12.99 | 1,792 84% | 54k | $698k (exactly $698,342) | Puppyroar Games | |
 | Wall World 2 | $11.99 | 1,749 73% | 52k | $629k (exactly $629,115) | Alawar | |
 | Relic Guardian - Tower Defense | $19.99 | 981 94% | 29k | $588k (exactly $588,306) | Mystrigger | |
 | Machine Mind | $19.99 | 567 71% | 17k | $340k (exactly $340,030) | Chudo-Yudo Games | |
 | IDUN - Frontline Survival | $14.99 | 685 77% | 21k | $308k (exactly $308,044) | IDUN Interactive | |
 | MINOS | $17.99 | 544 88% | 16k | $294k (exactly $293,597) | Artificer | |
 | Zero Stress King: Idle Defense | $4.99 | 1,679 87% | 50k | $251k (exactly $251,346) | Pauloondra | |
 | Guardians of the Sanctree | $19.99 | 284 72% | 8.5k | $170k (exactly $170,315) | HuCang Studio | |
 | The Ember Guardian | $19.99 | 278 82% | 8.3k | $167k (exactly $166,717) | Ratbit Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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