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Should I ship a Twin Stick Shooter Base Building game?
Base Building + Twin Stick Shooter
Only 12 developers shipped a Twin Stick Shooter Base Building game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, The Ember Guardian, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 19 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $160k, ×265 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 19 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.9k (exactly $2,936) |
| Top 25% | $22k (exactly $21,578) |
| Top 5% | $167k (exactly $166,717) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 12 |
| Released games | 30 |
| Announced | 19 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 80% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 3%, 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
- Twin Stick 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, Twin Stick Shooter
- Price point
- $6.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 597 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 19 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Base Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
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- + 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
Patch Quest 2023 · $925k 
Lumencraft 2023 · $651k 
Decision: Red Daze 2022 · $513k 
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD 2017 · $307k 
The Ember Guardian 2026 · $167k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Patch Quest | older | $14.99 | 2,058 94% | 62k | $925k (exactly $925,483) | Lychee Game Labs |
| | Lumencraft | older | $19.99 | 1,086 75% | 33k | $651k (exactly $651,274) | 2Dynamic Games |
| | Decision: Red Daze | older | $19.99 | 855 74% | 26k | $513k (exactly $512,743) | FlyAnvil |
| | Yet Another Zombie Defense HD | older | $3.99 | 2,561 84% | 77k | $307k (exactly $306,552) | Awesome Games Studio |
| | The Ember Guardian | $19.99 | 278 82% | 8.3k | $167k (exactly $166,717) | Ratbit Games | |
 | VERSUS SQUAD | older | $7.99 | 527 77% | 16k | $126k (exactly $126,322) | DiezelPower |
 | Slaycation Paradise | older | $14.99 | 132 81% | 4.0k | $59k (exactly $59,360) | Affordable Acquisition |
 | Trashed | · EA older | $9.99 | 129 41% | 3.9k | $39k (exactly $38,661) | Josh Presseisen |
 | Kritter: Defend Together | $9.99 | 109 86% | 3.3k | $33k (exactly $32,667) | LJF Games | |
 | Sun Down Survivors | older | $4.99 | 185 50% | 5.6k | $28k (exactly $27,694) | Pixel Sprout Studios |
 | Cast Out Colony | $9.99 | 72 91% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,578) | Wooshido | |
 | Bonelords | $6.99 | 94 92% | 2.8k | $20k (exactly $19,712) | Z0 Game Studios | |
 | Zaxoid | $14.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $6.3k (exactly $6,296) | M80 Games | |
 | Grabbus | · EA | $6.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $2.9k (exactly $2,936) | Foxoplasm, LLC |
 | GunflareEpoch | $6.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $2.1k (exactly $2,097) | FatBird Game | |
 | Zombolion | $3.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $359 (exactly $359) | SP games | |
 | Blitz Society | $4.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | Ryan Evans | |
 | Enfora Star | $6.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $210 (exactly $210) | Haapa Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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