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Should I ship an Alien Bullet Hell?
Bullet Hell + Aliens
Of 183 developers who shipped an Alien Bullet Hell 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.. 183 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 4 / 10 build. 106 developers shipped in the last year and 183 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $299 (exactly $299) |
| Top 25% | $1.9k (exactly $1,948) |
| Top 5% | $42k (exactly $41,822) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 183 |
| Released games | 459 |
| Announced | 183 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 up 20% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Bullet Hell
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Aliens
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Bullet Hell; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Shooter
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Retro
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 50,924 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 90 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 183 games are announced against 106 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Bullet Hell with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SuperheroStrong odds
- + FaithFair
- + VampiresFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
- + PiratesFair
- + CatsFair
- + HackingFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + Card BattlerFair
- + DemonsFair
- + Naval CombatFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor | $12.99 | 46,354 86% | 1.4M | $18M (exactly $18,064,154) | Funday Games | |
| | Greedland | $12.99 | 2,919 83% | 88k | $1.1M (exactly $1,137,534) | VaMP He | |
| | Angel at Dusk | older | $14.99 | 1,676 98% | 50k | $754k (exactly $753,697) | Akiragoya |
| | Let Them Come | older | $7.99 | 1,084 84% | 33k | $260k (exactly $259,835) | Tuatara Games |
| | Genome Guardian | older | $11.99 | 711 92% | 21k | $256k (exactly $255,747) | Alpherior |
| | The Last Federation | older | $19.99 | 380 72% | 11k | $228k (exactly $227,886) | Arcen Games |
| | Go Mecha Ball | older | $19.99 | 371 85% | 11k | $222k (exactly $222,489) | Whale Peak Games |
| | Valfaris: Mecha Therion | older | $19.99 | 302 94% | 9.1k | $181k (exactly $181,109) | Steel Mantis |
| | Bit Blaster XL | older | $0.99 | 5,495 96% | 165k | $163k (exactly $163,202) | Adamvision Studios |
| | Space Invaders Extreme | older | $19.99 | 255 86% | 7.7k | $153k (exactly $152,924) | TAITO CORP. |
| | Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite | $5.99 | 698 83% | 21k | $125k (exactly $125,431) | RyanJakob | |
| | Starbreed | $10.99 | 271 95% | 8.1k | $89k (exactly $89,349) | RegulusNSFW | |
| | Raiden NOVA | 雷電NOVA | 雷電新星 | $29.99 | 66 72% | 2.0k | $59k (exactly $59,380) | MOSS Co., Ltd. | |
| | Let Them Come: Onslaught | $7.99 | 216 89% | 6.5k | $52k (exactly $51,775) | Tuatara Games | |
| | MeowGun: Hell Denizen | $12.99 | 114 98% | 3.4k | $44k (exactly $44,426) | SusaDeBastet | |
| | Flying Tank | $14.99 | 97 86% | 2.9k | $44k (exactly $43,621) | Hexage | |
| | Cowboy 3030 | $14.99 | 96 87% | 2.9k | $43k (exactly $43,171) | Soy Boy Games | |
| | Vortica | $14.99 | 93 83% | 2.8k | $42k (exactly $41,822) | Vortical Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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