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Should I ship a Top-Down Shooter Base Building game?
Base Building + Top-Down Shooter
Of 49 developers who shipped a Top-Down Shooter 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.. 120 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $750, ×1.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $400k, ×641 the market median. Revenue is up 200% on the market; 120 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $748 (exactly $748) |
| Top 25% | $7.9k (exactly $7,910) |
| Top 5% | $403k (exactly $402,616) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 49 |
| Released games | 116 |
| Announced | 120 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 200% on the market, supply 125% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Base Building
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Base Building, Top-Down Shooter; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Survival, Adventure
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 110,700 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 9 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 120 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Base Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + ProgrammingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + UndergroundPoor odds
- + MarsPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
Comparable games
Escape From Duckov 2025 · $45M 
Foxhole 2022 · $43M 
BALL x PIT 2025 · $11M 
How to Survive 2 2016 · $3.9M 
Black Skylands 2023 · $1.7M | 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 | |
| | Foxhole | older | $29.99 | 47,330 79% | 1.4M | $43M (exactly $42,582,801) | Siege Camp |
| | BALL x PIT | $14.99 | 24,714 95% | 741k | $11M (exactly $11,113,886) | Kenny Sun and Friends | |
| | How to Survive 2 | older | $14.99 | 8,641 69% | 259k | $3.9M (exactly $3,885,858) | Eko Software |
| | Black Skylands | older | $19.99 | 2,849 82% | 85k | $1.7M (exactly $1,708,545) | Hungry Couch Games |
 | Taur | older | $24.99 | 2,011 79% | 60k | $1.5M (exactly $1,507,647) | Echo Entertainment |
 | Lumencraft | older | $19.99 | 1,086 75% | 33k | $651k (exactly $651,274) | 2Dynamic Games |
 | Dinotica | $17.99 | 746 86% | 22k | $403k (exactly $402,616) | XA Studio | |
 | Yet Another Zombie Defense HD | older | $3.99 | 2,561 84% | 77k | $307k (exactly $306,552) | Awesome Games Studio |
 | Ares Virus2 | older | $18.99 | 412 64% | 12k | $235k (exactly $234,716) | 热区网络 |
 | Keep Her Safe | · EA | $9.99 | 382 97% | 11k | $114k (exactly $114,485) | Gugu Studio |
 | Desperate Place | $10.99 | 253 66% | 7.6k | $83k (exactly $83,414) | BruceGalaxy | |
 | Ash & Adam's Existential Treads | $6.99 | 340 92% | 10k | $71k (exactly $71,298) | Ash & Adam's Games | |
 | No Escape from Madness | $11.99 | 197 60% | 5.9k | $71k (exactly $70,861) | qiqin | |
 | Kritter: Defend Together | $9.99 | 109 86% | 3.3k | $33k (exactly $32,667) | LJF Games | |
 | Girl Frame | $14.99 | 69 68% | 2.1k | $31k (exactly $31,029) | Meow Run, Cat Shine | |
 | Kill A Million Rats | $10.99 | 64 89% | 1.9k | $21k (exactly $21,101) | Nerdook Productions |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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