Do I ship it?

Games › Arena Shooter › Arena Shooter + Base Building

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Base Building Arena Shooter?

Arena Shooter + Base Building

Only 13 developers shipped a Base Building Arena Shooter in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Starship Troopers: Extermination, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 30 more are announced, ×4.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 7 developers shipped in the last year and 30 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 140% on the market, 30 announced, ×4.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Arena Shooter + Base Building
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 13
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $450 → $419 → $7.9k (still earning) → $359 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Arena Shooter + Base Building: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 13
Bottom 30% $298 (exactly $298)
Median $449 (exactly $449)
Top 25% $7.9k (exactly $7,910)
Top 5% $27M (exactly $26,742,683)
Developers, 2 yr 13
Released games 39
Announced 30
Effort 6 / 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 140% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 13%, 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.

Arena Shooter
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Base Building
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Arena Shooter, Base Building; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Bullet Heaven
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 80% positive over 29,896 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $450, 1 in 4 over $7.9k, 1 in 20 over $26M.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + IncrementalFair15 devs · median $3.5k · 20 announced
  2. + DemonsFair54 devs · median $1.3k · 55 announced
  3. + 2D PlatformerFair45 devs · median $809 · 43 announced
  4. + Multiple EndingsFair18 devs · median $597 · 16 announced
  5. + CollectathonLong shot12 devs · median $150 · 13 announced
  6. + DeckbuildingPoor odds9 devs · median $3.1k · 26 announced
  7. + Bullet HeavenPoor odds75 devs · median $2.3k · 101 announced
  8. + Class-BasedPoor odds19 devs · median $2.2k · 50 announced
  9. + Boomer ShooterPoor odds133 devs · median $1.8k · 165 announced
  10. + Dark FantasyPoor odds59 devs · median $1.7k · 85 announced
  11. + On-Rails ShooterPoor odds10 devs · median $1.5k · 11 announced
  12. + RPGPoor odds88 devs · median $1.4k · 124 announced

All 134 pairs on the Arena Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Starship Troopers: Extermination 2024 · $27M Patch Quest 2023 · $925k Yet Another Zombie Defense HD 2017 · $307k Blood Waves 2018 · $54k Cast Out Colony 2025 · $22k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Starship Troopers: Extermination $29.99 29,724 80% 892k $27M (exactly $26,742,683) Offworld
Patch Quest older $14.99 2,058 94% 62k $925k (exactly $925,483) Lychee Game Labs
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD older $3.99 2,561 84% 77k $307k (exactly $306,552) Awesome Games Studio
Blood Waves older $9.99 179 67% 5.4k $54k (exactly $53,646) Light Road Games
Cast Out Colony $9.99 72 91% 2.2k $22k (exactly $21,578) Wooshido
Vienkiemis · EA $12.99 44 100% 1.3k $17k (exactly $17,147) dssob, SMEIVIS
Ooglians · EA older $1.99 234 63% 7.0k $14k (exactly $13,970) Simon Bäckström
Backpack Raiders $7.99 33 93% 990 $7.9k (exactly $7,910) WollemGames
Catnight older $4.99 21 76% 630 $3.1k (exactly $3,144) Rubber Croc
Emorrior older $4.99 19 73% 570 $2.8k (exactly $2,844) BerilyTeam
Pulslink $6.99 8 75% 240 $1.7k (exactly $1,678) FatCoke
The Last Zone · EA $9.99 2 100% 60 $599 (exactly $599) Kodobur Games
Forbidden zone $4.99 3 0% 90 $449 (exactly $449) Karuna
Comet Force $6.99 2 100% 60 $419 (exactly $419) Radiant Sloth
Zombolion $3.99 3 100% 90 $359 (exactly $359) SP games
Gold and Bricks $1.99 5 100% 150 $298 (exactly $298) kurigamedev

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