Do I ship it?

Games › Gun Customization › Gun Customization + Base Building

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Gun Customization Base Building game?

Gun Customization + Base Building

Of 23 developers who shipped a Gun Customization Base Building game 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.. 64 more are announced, ×5.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $9.1k, ×15 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $1.4M, ×2256 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 64 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 14.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 45% on the market, 64 announced, ×5.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Gun Customization + Base Building
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 23
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.3k → $5.4k → $38k → $1.7k → $51k → $177k → $720 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Gun Customization + Base Building: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 23
Bottom 30% $720 (exactly $720)
Median $9.1k (exactly $9,114)
Top 25% $55k (exactly $55,172)
Top 5% $1.4M (exactly $1,417,028)
Developers, 2 yr 23
Released games 65
Announced 64
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $12.99

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 45% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 5%, 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.

Gun Customization
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
Gun Customization, Base Building; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Building, Exploration
Price point
$12.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 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 $29.99 or above; the middle game at $12.99.

The top 10 games average 85% positive over 87,215 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $720, median $9.1k, 1 in 4 over $55k, 1 in 20 over $1.4M.

3 in 10 developers made under $720. 5 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 64 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Gun Customization with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Tower DefenseFair26 devs · median $958 · 32 announced
  2. + DystopianPoor odds16 devs · median $51k · 58 announced
  3. + Immersive SimPoor odds12 devs · median $25k · 44 announced
  4. + BuildingPoor odds13 devs · median $16k · 39 announced
  5. + Survival HorrorPoor odds26 devs · median $14k · 55 announced
  6. + ModernPoor odds18 devs · median $14k · 38 announced
  7. + MilitaryPoor odds50 devs · median $13k · 126 announced
  8. + StealthPoor odds20 devs · median $13k · 63 announced
  9. + Co-opPoor odds31 devs · median $11k · 92 announced
  10. + MechsPoor odds12 devs · median $11k · 32 announced
  11. + Resource ManagementPoor odds28 devs · median $11k · 71 announced
  12. + Post-apocalypticPoor odds54 devs · median $8.1k · 162 announced

All 93 pairs on the Gun Customization page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Escape From Duckov 2025 · $45M ERA ONE 2025 · EA · $1.4M Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone 2025 · EA · $633k That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles 2024 · $441k Rise of Gun 2024 · $426k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Escape From Duckov $17.99 83,826 85% 2.5M $45M (exactly $45,240,892) Team Soda
ERA ONE · EA $29.99 1,575 86% 47k $1.4M (exactly $1,417,028) Team Complex LTD
Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone · EA $39.99 528 62% 16k $633k (exactly $633,442) The Farm 51
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles older $49.99 294 52% 8.8k $441k (exactly $440,912) ZOC Co.,Ltd.
Rise of Gun older $12.99 1,094 84% 33k $426k (exactly $426,332) PimpGameStudio
Ultimate Zombie Defense 2 $9.99 589 76% 18k $177k (exactly $176,523) Terror Dog Studio
Siege of Centauri older $14.99 350 64% 11k $157k (exactly $157,395) Stardock Entertainment
GROSS older $12.99 265 80% 8.0k $103k (exactly $103,270) hangry owl games
Gun Factory Simulator · EA $14.99 162 62% 4.9k $73k (exactly $72,851) Broken Clock
Space Trader: Merchant Marine older $4.99 450 53% 14k $67k (exactly $67,365) ·
Territory Control 2 · EA $19.99 92 77% 2.8k $55k (exactly $55,172) TFlippy, Knorrepot
Atomic Exile · EA $14.99 120 79% 3.6k $54k (exactly $53,964) Inferno Muse Interactive
Decision Legacy Collection $9.99 171 83% 5.1k $51k (exactly $51,249) FlyAnvil
Cosmos point $12.99 79 79% 2.4k $31k (exactly $30,786) Anatoliy Sidorov
Crazy Islands $13.99 73 68% 2.2k $31k (exactly $30,638) Ge-Aivan

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