Do I ship it?

Games › Arena Shooter › Arena Shooter + Tower Defense

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Tower Defense Arena Shooter?

Arena Shooter + Tower Defense

Of 30 developers who shipped a Tower Defense 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.. 40 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 16 developers shipped in the last year and 40 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 150% on the market, 40 announced, ×2.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Arena Shooter + Tower Defense
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 30
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $449 → $570 → $450 → $898 → $298 → $599 → $718 (still earning) → $299 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Arena Shooter + Tower Defense: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 30
Bottom 30% $240 (exactly $240)
Median $359 (exactly $359)
Top 25% $807 (exactly $807)
Top 5% $41k (exactly $40,509)
Developers, 2 yr 30
Released games 95
Announced 40
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 150% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, 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
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
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Arena Shooter, Tower Defense; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Arcade, Action, Shooter
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $7.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $7.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 945 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $360, 1 in 4 over $800, 1 in 20 over $40k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. All of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 40 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 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

Heretic's Fork 2023 · $928k Yet Another Zombie Defense HD 2017 · $307k Monday Night Combat 2011 · $137k Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite 2025 · $125k Towerful Defense: A Rogue TD 2024 · $63k
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
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD older $3.99 2,561 84% 77k $307k (exactly $306,552) Awesome Games Studio
Monday Night Combat older $4.99 912 81% 27k $137k (exactly $136,526) Uber Entertainment
Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite $5.99 698 83% 21k $125k (exactly $125,431) RyanJakob
Towerful Defense: A Rogue TD older $9.99 209 70% 6.3k $63k (exactly $62,637) Mini Fun Games
Blood Waves older $9.99 179 67% 5.4k $54k (exactly $53,646) Light Road Games
Antivirus Girl $7.99 169 88% 5.1k $41k (exactly $40,509) Chowbie
FLERP older $2.99 401 86% 12k $36k (exactly $35,970) foolsroom
Astro Looter: Survivor older $1.99 386 67% 12k $23k (exactly $23,044) Soda Game Studio
Ooglians · EA older $1.99 234 63% 7.0k $14k (exactly $13,970) Simon Bäckström
Slime Squisher $4.99 27 77% 810 $4.0k (exactly $4,042) EagleEye Games
Dead Z Meat $9.99 6 50% 180 $1.8k (exactly $1,798) ISTOM Games
Compadrone: Land Wars $4.99 12 91% 360 $1.8k (exactly $1,796) Seam Entertainment
Pulslink $6.99 8 75% 240 $1.7k (exactly $1,678) FatCoke
TANK ZERO $5.99 5 100% 150 $898 (exactly $898) Emergency Exit
Wake the Beacon $2.99 9 77% 270 $807 (exactly $807) NovaScreen
Bearly Alive $7.99 3 100% 90 $719 (exactly $719) Falling Light
STELLAR BASTION $2.99 8 87% 240 $718 (exactly $718) Toro Studio

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