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Should I ship a Deckbuilding Arena Shooter?
Arena Shooter + Deckbuilding
Only 9 developers shipped a Deckbuilding 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, Star Survivor, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 26 more are announced, ×4.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.1k, ×5.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $80k, ×129 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 26 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $719 (exactly $719) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.1k (exactly $3,116) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $11,692) |
| Top 5% | $81k (exactly $80,838) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 27 |
| Announced | 26 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 90% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Deckbuilding
- effort 3 / 10 · high · card pools and run logic
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Arena Shooter, Deckbuilding
- Price point
- $4.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 10,517 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 26 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Arena Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + IncrementalFair
- + DemonsFair
- + 2D PlatformerFair
- + Multiple EndingsFair
- + CollectathonLong shot
- + Bullet HeavenPoor odds
- + Class-BasedPoor odds
- + Boomer ShooterPoor odds
- + Dark FantasyPoor odds
- + On-Rails ShooterPoor odds
- + RPGPoor odds
- + DystopianPoor odds
Comparable games
Heretic's Fork 2023 · $928k 
SNKRX 2021 · $377k 
Just King 2023 · $204k 
Star Survivor 2024 · $81k 
Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors 2025 · $72k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Heretic's Fork | older | $9.99 | 3,097 85% | 93k | $928k (exactly $928,171) | 9FingerGames |
| | SNKRX | older | $2.99 | 4,198 94% | 126k | $377k (exactly $376,561) | a327ex |
| | Just King | older | $4.99 | 1,362 89% | 41k | $204k (exactly $203,891) | VISH |
| | Star Survivor | $4.99 | 540 67% | 16k | $81k (exactly $80,838) | SpaceOwl Games, Erabit | |
| | Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors | $4.99 | 479 90% | 14k | $72k (exactly $71,706) | BINGOBELL | |
 | Towerful Defense: A Rogue TD | older | $9.99 | 209 70% | 6.3k | $63k (exactly $62,637) | Mini Fun Games |
 | Neon Sundown | older | $4.99 | 372 87% | 11k | $56k (exactly $55,688) | Ben Nichols |
 | Fabric Of Reality | older | $6.99 | 119 91% | 3.6k | $25k (exactly $24,954) | _Jester_ |
 | Adrenaline Rampage | $14.99 | 26 88% | 780 | $12k (exactly $11,692) | Midhard Games | |
 | Centipede Gun | older | $2.99 | 115 91% | 3.5k | $10k (exactly $10,316) | Mateusk2m |
 | Wink Out | · EA | $7.99 | 31 100% | 930 | $7.4k (exactly $7,431) | Clevergence Games |
 | Deck of Treads | $7.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $3.1k (exactly $3,116) | DuckByte Games | |
 | GLIMPO | $1.99 | 23 95% | 690 | $1.4k (exactly $1,373) | TheLetterIsH | |
 | SUPER MARKET | $5.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $719 (exactly $719) | Spectacularly Obsolete Logic Operations… (Spectacularly Obsolete Logic Operations: Glitchy Applications Marvelously Executed Shoddily) | |
 | AHA Asset Horde Arena | · EA | $0.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $59 (exactly $59) | VovaVoin |
 | Dealer's Domain: The Infinite Hand | $4.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Reece |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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