Do I ship it?

Games › Looter Shooter › Looter Shooter + Arena Shooter

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Arena Shooter Looter Shooter?

Looter Shooter + Arena Shooter

Of 51 developers who shipped an Arena Shooter Looter 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.. 74 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450, ×0.3 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180. 74 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper, while revenue is down 55% on the market.

Deciding numbers: median 0.3 times the market baseline, revenue down 55% on the market, 74 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Looter Shooter + Arena Shooter
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 51
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $356 → $1.3k → $958 → $449 → $1.8k → $297 → $299 (still earning) → $628 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Looter Shooter + Arena Shooter: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 51
Bottom 30% $179 (exactly $179)
Median $449 (exactly $449)
Top 25% $5.1k (exactly $5,095)
Top 5% $632k (exactly $632,067)
Developers, 2 yr 51
Released games 133
Announced 74
Effort 8 / 10
AI-buildability Low
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 55% on the market, supply 25% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 17%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Looter Shooter
effort 8 / 10 · low · online co-op and a loot economy on top of a shooter
Arena Shooter
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
Looter Shooter, Arena Shooter; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Roguelike
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 10,738 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $450, 1 in 4 over $5.0k, 1 in 20 over $630k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 37 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 74 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + MechsFair13 devs · median $219k · 14 announced
  2. + Vehicular CombatFair11 devs · median $15k · 14 announced
  3. + IdlerFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 8 announced
  4. + 3D PlatformerLong shot23 devs · median $449 · 16 announced
  5. + Extraction ShooterPoor odds31 devs · median $71k · 73 announced
  6. + Online Co-OpPoor odds54 devs · median $25k · 136 announced
  7. + Co-opPoor odds56 devs · median $25k · 124 announced
  8. + Twin Stick ShooterPoor odds18 devs · median $16k · 44 announced
  9. + DystopianPoor odds14 devs · median $10k · 45 announced
  10. + Base BuildingPoor odds36 devs · median $9.1k · 74 announced
  11. + Character CustomizationPoor odds50 devs · median $9.0k · 151 announced
  12. + Inventory ManagementPoor odds27 devs · median $6.9k · 61 announced

All 90 pairs on the Looter Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Abyssus 2025 · $3.8M ROBOBEAT 2024 · $1.0M Vampire Hunters 2024 · $873k TerraTech Legion 2026 · $632k Alien Shooter 2009 · $587k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Abyssus $24.99 5,014 84% 150k $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996) DoubleMoose Games
ROBOBEAT older $19.99 1,708 94% 51k $1.0M (exactly $1,024,288) Simon Fredholm
Vampire Hunters $14.99 1,941 89% 58k $873k (exactly $872,868) Gamecraft Studios
TerraTech Legion $9.99 2,109 81% 63k $632k (exactly $632,067) Payload Studios
Alien Shooter older $4.99 3,919 95% 118k $587k (exactly $586,674) Sigma Team Inc.
Alien Shooter 2 - The Legend older $14.99 1,087 52% 33k $489k (exactly $488,824) Sigma Team Inc.
Black Ice · EA older $19.99 515 95% 15k $309k (exactly $308,846) Nonadecimal Creative, Super Duper Garre… (Nonadecimal Creative, Super Duper Garrett Cooper)
CyberCorp $14.99 351 75% 11k $158k (exactly $157,845) Megame LLC
Black Gunner Wukong older $9.99 417 98% 13k $125k (exactly $124,975) Wukong
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
Ironsand $7.49 142 68% 4.3k $32k (exactly $31,907) Renderise
Ultra Mega Cats · EA $11.99 70 74% 2.1k $25k (exactly $25,179) Fallen Leaf, Unseen Silence, Black Drak… (Fallen Leaf, Unseen Silence, Black Drakkar Games)
Pet the Cat $4.99 155 83% 4.7k $23k (exactly $23,204) MEWSTURBO
NightMare King $4.99 59 83% 1.8k $8.8k (exactly $8,832) Starmoon Cat

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