Do I ship it?

Games › Arcade › Arcade + Tower Defense

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Tower Defense Arcade game?

Arcade + Tower Defense

Of 135 developers who shipped a Tower Defense Arcade 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.. 180 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 3 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $720, ×1.5 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $210. Revenue is up 95% on the market; 180 games are announced against 94 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 95% on the market, 180 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Arcade + Tower Defense
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 135
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $539 → $1.3k → $599 → $898 → $1.4k → $657 → $1.5k (still earning) → $599 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Arcade + Tower Defense: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 135
Bottom 30% $210 (exactly $210)
Median $718 (exactly $718)
Top 25% $5.7k (exactly $5,694)
Top 5% $125k (exactly $125,431)
Developers, 2 yr 135
Released games 364
Announced 180
Effort 3 / 10
AI-buildability High
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 95% on the market, supply 120% 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 high: the lowest rating among its tags.

Arcade
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
Tower Defense
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
Systems
Arcade, Tower Defense; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, Roguelite
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 10,811 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $210, median $720, 1 in 4 over $5.6k, 1 in 20 over $120k.

3 in 10 developers made under $210. 9 in 10 of the 55 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 180 games are announced against 94 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Arcade with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair59 devs · median $4.3k · 88 announced
  2. + TrainsFair20 devs · median $3.1k · 16 announced
  3. + Visual NovelFair101 devs · median $2.6k · 84 announced
  4. + MiningFair91 devs · median $2.2k · 125 announced
  5. + FaithFair16 devs · median $2.2k · 15 announced
  6. + Turn-BasedFair35 devs · median $2.2k · 32 announced
  7. + EconomyFair199 devs · median $2.1k · 285 announced
  8. + LGBTQ+Fair72 devs · median $2.1k · 61 announced
  9. + DeckbuildingFair170 devs · median $1.9k · 234 announced
  10. + Card BattlerFair68 devs · median $1.9k · 75 announced
  11. + LootFair147 devs · median $1.9k · 215 announced
  12. + VampiresFair34 devs · median $1.9k · 35 announced

All 270 pairs on the Arcade page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Orcs Must Die! 2011 · $2.0M Heretic's Fork 2023 · $928k Monsters are Coming! 2025 · $733k Cavalry Girls 2023 · $675k Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break 2020 · $566k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Orcs Must Die! older $9.99 6,663 95% 200k $2.0M (exactly $1,996,901) Robot Entertainment
Heretic's Fork older $9.99 3,097 85% 93k $928k (exactly $928,171) 9FingerGames
Monsters are Coming! $8.99 2,718 79% 82k $733k (exactly $733,045) Ludogram
Cavalry Girls older $11.99 1,877 88% 56k $675k (exactly $675,157) 中子星游戏研究所
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break older $14.99 1,259 78% 38k $566k (exactly $566,172) ACE Team, Giant Monkey Robot
Progressbar95 older $4.99 3,473 96% 104k $520k (exactly $519,908) Igor Uduslivii
Toy Soldiers: Complete older $14.99 989 78% 30k $445k (exactly $444,753) Signal Studios, Krome Studios
Achilles: Survivor $8.99 1,454 81% 44k $392k (exactly $392,144) Dark Point Games
Outhold $6.99 1,818 86% 55k $381k (exactly $381,235) Tellus Games
Sineus Arena Survivors $10.99 1,150 77% 35k $379k (exactly $379,155) Sineus Games
Machine Mind $19.99 567 71% 17k $340k (exactly $340,030) Chudo-Yudo Games
Zero Stress King: Idle Defense $4.99 1,679 87% 50k $251k (exactly $251,346) Pauloondra
Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite $5.99 698 83% 21k $125k (exactly $125,431) RyanJakob
SHOOPER NOVA $6.99 545 83% 16k $114k (exactly $114,286) Jamesika
Tech Blast $39.99 90 92% 2.7k $108k (exactly $107,973) Galactic Geckon
Cyber Tower 2048 $29.99 92 88% 2.8k $83k (exactly $82,772) Galactic Geckon

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