Do I ship it?

Games › Arena Shooter › Arena Shooter + Hack and Slash

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Hack and Slash Arena Shooter?

Arena Shooter + Hack and Slash

Of 72 developers who shipped a Hack and Slash Arena 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.. 105 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $240 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 43 developers shipped in the last year and 105 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue up 165% on the market, 105 announced, ×2.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Arena Shooter + Hack and Slash
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 72
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.1k → $1.3k → $1.6k → $1.3k → $59 → $419 → $629 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Arena Shooter + Hack and Slash: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 72
Bottom 30% $60 (exactly $60)
Median $239 (exactly $239)
Top 25% $3.1k (exactly $3,116)
Top 5% $93k (exactly $92,907)
Developers, 2 yr 72
Released games 194
Announced 105
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 up 165% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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
Hack and Slash
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, Hack and Slash; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Bullet Hell, Action Roguelike
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
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 86% positive over 4,006 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $60, median $240, 1 in 4 over $3.1k, 1 in 20 over $92k.

3 in 10 developers made under $60. 8 in 10 of the 31 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 105 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 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

Brotato 2023 · $17M MADNESS: Project Nexus 2021 · $12M Redeemer: Enhanced Edition 2017 · $949k Bing in Wonderland 2023 · $545k Geometry Arena 2021 · $380k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Brotato older $4.99 111,407 95% 3.3M $17M (exactly $16,677,628) Blobfish
MADNESS: Project Nexus older $24.99 15,977 97% 479k $12M (exactly $11,977,957) GIBBING TREE, LLC
Redeemer: Enhanced Edition older $11.99 2,637 87% 79k $949k (exactly $948,529) Sobaka Studio
Bing in Wonderland older $8.99 2,020 97% 61k $545k (exactly $544,794) Wanba Studio
Geometry Arena older $5.99 2,114 95% 63k $380k (exactly $379,886) 011 Games
Noobs Are Coming $7.99 1,580 82% 47k $379k (exactly $378,726) Overboy
Kvark $19.99 461 86% 14k $276k (exactly $276,462) Latest Past, Perun Creative
Zombie Training Simulator older $19.99 227 92% 6.8k $136k (exactly $136,132) Acceleroto, Inc.
Astroloot · EA $6.99 587 92% 18k $123k (exactly $123,094) Andreas Hager Gaming
Nakara $9.99 310 91% 9.3k $93k (exactly $92,907) R3dspike
Geometry Arena 2 $5.99 381 88% 11k $68k (exactly $68,466) 011 Games
Voids Vigil $4.99 378 94% 11k $57k (exactly $56,587) caiys
ENCHAIN · EA $19.99 94 96% 2.8k $56k (exactly $56,372) mattlawrdev
Black Dragon Mage · EA $5.99 140 70% 4.2k $25k (exactly $25,158) datablob
HoverGrease 2 $19.99 24 83% 720 $14k (exactly $14,393) Altergaze
MOBU $5.99 51 100% 1.5k $9.2k (exactly $9,165) Saidera Studio

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