Do I ship it?

Games › Beat 'em up › Beat 'em up + Tower Defense

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Tower Defense Beat 'em up?

Beat 'em up + Tower Defense

Only 14 developers shipped a Tower Defense Beat 'em up 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, Abyss Kitchen, 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.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $420, ×0.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $150. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 19 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.9 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 19 announced, ×1.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Beat 'em up + Tower Defense
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 14
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $840 → $416 → $150 → $539 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Beat 'em up + Tower Defense: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 14
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $416 (exactly $416)
Top 25% $958 (exactly $958)
Top 5% $73k (exactly $72,659)
Developers, 2 yr 14
Released games 31
Announced 19
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 500% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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.

Beat 'em up
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 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
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Beat 'em up, Tower Defense
Price point
$5.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 374 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $420, 1 in 4 over $950, 1 in 20 over $72k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 19 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Beat 'em up with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + LGBTQ+Fair14 devs · median $76k · 13 announced
  2. + RhythmFair17 devs · median $4.5k · 15 announced
  3. + CollectathonFair25 devs · median $1.2k · 20 announced
  4. + Score AttackFair36 devs · median $539 · 41 announced
  5. + IncrementalFair11 devs · median $537 · 8 announced
  6. + NinjaLong shot29 devs · median $359 · 30 announced
  7. + Combat RacingLong shot15 devs · median $89 · 15 announced
  8. + Character Action GamePoor odds12 devs · median $58k · 37 announced
  9. + LootPoor odds20 devs · median $13k · 29 announced
  10. + Co-opPoor odds74 devs · median $11k · 125 announced
  11. + Online Co-OpPoor odds45 devs · median $11k · 71 announced
  12. + Local Co-OpPoor odds68 devs · median $9.0k · 94 announced

All 126 pairs on the Beat 'em up page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

DRAGON QUEST HEROES™ Slime Edition 2015 · $1.4M Bish Bash Bots 2023 · $87k Abyss Kitchen 2026 · $73k Pull Stay 2025 · $64k The Last Friend 2021 · $42k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
DRAGON QUEST HEROES™ Slime Edition older $39.99 1,150 67% 35k $1.4M (exactly $1,379,655) KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.
Bish Bash Bots older $19.99 145 77% 4.4k $87k (exactly $86,956) CATASTROPHIC_OVERLOAD
Abyss Kitchen $11.99 202 89% 6.1k $73k (exactly $72,659) Pico Games
Pull Stay $16.99 125 97% 3.8k $64k (exactly $63,712) Nito Souji
The Last Friend older $14.99 94 88% 2.8k $42k (exactly $42,272) The Stonebot Studio, Ludus Games
Hug Survivor older $12.99 28 82% 840 $11k (exactly $10,912) mumimumi, veryOK
Dough or Die · EA $7.99 16 100% 480 $3.8k (exactly $3,835) Soundbyte Interactive
Land of the Survivors older $4.99 9 77% 270 $1.3k (exactly $1,347) ZHANGFAN
BULLET GIRL：ZOMBIE DEFENSE $3.99 8 100% 240 $958 (exactly $958) Sojourner. Game
ChronoDojo older $2.00 14 100% 420 $840 (exactly $840) StarCouch Studio
TYPER3000 $11.99 2 100% 60 $719 (exactly $719) ALBATROS
Seth Slays Everybody $5.99 3 100% 90 $539 (exactly $539) Candeia Studio
Hard as Hell $0.99 14 85% 420 $416 (exactly $416) L4S Games, KAPPIRE
Chicken TD: Defenders of the Coop · EA $5.99 2 100% 60 $359 (exactly $359) codeWonderland
Bear Brigade: Ocean Attack! $5.00 1 100% 30 $150 (exactly $150) Nodnin Studios
Axe or Bone $4.99 1 100% 30 $150 (exactly $150) TuTu

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