Do I ship it?

Games › Top-Down Shooter › Top-Down Shooter + Aliens

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Alien Top-Down Shooter?

Top-Down Shooter + Aliens

Of 116 developers who shipped an Alien Top-Down Shooter 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.. 153 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 4 / 10 build. 62 developers shipped in the last year and 153 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 60% on the market, 153 announced, ×2.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Top-Down Shooter + Aliens
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 116
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $359 → $449 → $538 → $599 → $208 → $360 → $299 (still earning) → $240 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Top-Down Shooter + Aliens: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 116
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $299 (exactly $299)
Top 25% $1.8k (exactly $1,798)
Top 5% $45k (exactly $44,795)
Developers, 2 yr 116
Released games 365
Announced 153
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 60% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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.

Top-Down Shooter
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
Aliens
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Top-Down Shooter; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Arcade
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 50,082 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 $1.7k, 1 in 20 over $44k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. Nearly all of the 58 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 153 games are announced against 62 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Top-Down Shooter with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + VampiresFair16 devs · median $3.7k · 10 announced
  2. + Turn-Based StrategyFair13 devs · median $1.6k · 13 announced
  3. + World War IIFair11 devs · median $1.4k · 15 announced
  4. + IdlerFair24 devs · median $748 · 30 announced
  5. + ArcheryFair9 devs · median $359 · 11 announced
  6. + LovecraftianPoor odds12 devs · median $6.5k · 28 announced
  7. + Tactical RPGPoor odds12 devs · median $5.5k · 16 announced
  8. + Action RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $4.0k · 32 announced
  9. + HistoricalPoor odds18 devs · median $3.3k · 24 announced
  10. + ModernPoor odds13 devs · median $3.3k · 19 announced
  11. + CraftingPoor odds45 devs · median $3.1k · 125 announced
  12. + DystopianPoor odds24 devs · median $3.1k · 92 announced

All 150 pairs on the Top-Down Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Aliens: Dark Descent 2023 · $18M Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor 2025 · $18M Starcom: Unknown Space 2024 · $3.3M X-Morph: Defense 2017 · $2.0M Red Solstice 2: Survivors 2021 · $1.2M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Aliens: Dark Descent older $39.99 15,310 87% 459k $18M (exactly $18,367,407) Tindalos Interactive
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor $12.99 46,354 86% 1.4M $18M (exactly $18,064,154) Funday Games
Starcom: Unknown Space older $24.99 4,464 92% 134k $3.3M (exactly $3,346,661) Wx3 Labs, LLC
X-Morph: Defense older $19.99 3,272 90% 98k $2.0M (exactly $1,962,218) EXOR Studios
Red Solstice 2: Survivors older $14.99 2,585 70% 78k $1.2M (exactly $1,162,474) Ironward
Greedland $12.99 2,919 83% 88k $1.1M (exactly $1,137,534) VaMP He
Alien Shooter older $4.99 3,919 95% 118k $587k (exactly $586,674) Sigma Team Inc.
Halo: Spartan Assault older $2.99 4,397 78% 132k $394k (exactly $394,411) Vanguard Games, 343 Industries
Alien Breed: Impact older $9.99 1,055 78% 32k $316k (exactly $316,184) Team17 Software Ltd.
Shadowgrounds older $6.99 1,233 82% 37k $259k (exactly $258,560) Frozenbyte
Artificial Extinction 2 $19.99 113 77% 3.4k $68k (exactly $67,766) 100Hr Games Inc
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
Warspace 2 $17.99 83 59% 2.5k $45k (exactly $44,795) Magic Game Art
Palpus X Annihilation $11.99 74 95% 2.2k $27k (exactly $26,618) Sebastian Vargek (Meister Palpus)
Arcadium - Space Odyssey $7.99 110 93% 3.3k $26k (exactly $26,367) Luciano Bercini
Gunlocked 2 $11.99 67 80% 2.0k $24k (exactly $24,100) FromLefcourt
Son of a Gun $9.99 80 78% 2.4k $24k (exactly $23,976) Crank Goblin

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