Do I ship it?

Games › Beat 'em up › Beat 'em up + Twin Stick Shooter

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Twin Stick Shooter Beat 'em up?

Beat 'em up + Twin Stick Shooter

Only 11 developers shipped a Twin Stick Shooter 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, Suit for Hire, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 30 more are announced, ×10.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.

Only 3 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $210 against a market of $480. 30 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 85% on the market, 30 announced, ×10.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Beat 'em up + Twin Stick Shooter
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 11
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.3k → $599 → $748 → $300
Outcomes for Beat 'em up + Twin Stick Shooter: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 11
Bottom 30% $119 (exactly $119)
Median $210 (exactly $210)
Top 25% $8.1k (exactly $8,092)
Top 5% $1.5M (exactly $1,467,371)
Developers, 2 yr 11
Released games 53
Announced 30
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 down 85% on the market, supply 65% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 21%, 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
Twin Stick Shooter
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, Twin Stick Shooter
Price point
$5.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 3,354 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $120, median $210, 1 in 4 over $8.0k, 1 in 20 over $1.4M.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 3 developers who shipped in the last year, ×10.0 per shipper.

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. + Tower DefenseFair14 devs · median $416 · 19 announced
  7. + NinjaLong shot29 devs · median $359 · 30 announced
  8. + Combat RacingLong shot15 devs · median $89 · 15 announced
  9. + Character Action GamePoor odds12 devs · median $58k · 37 announced
  10. + LootPoor odds20 devs · median $13k · 29 announced
  11. + Co-opPoor odds74 devs · median $11k · 125 announced
  12. + Online Co-OpPoor odds45 devs · median $11k · 71 announced

All 126 pairs on the Beat 'em up page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef 2022 · $1.6M Suit for Hire 2025 · $1.5M Redeemer: Enhanced Edition 2017 · $949k Insect Swarm 2024 · $522k Kill The Crows 2023 · $426k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef older $19.99 2,586 87% 78k $1.6M (exactly $1,550,824) Rogueside
Suit for Hire $14.99 3,263 92% 98k $1.5M (exactly $1,467,371) Godmode Interactive
Redeemer: Enhanced Edition older $11.99 2,637 87% 79k $949k (exactly $948,529) Sobaka Studio
Insect Swarm older $6.99 2,491 84% 75k $522k (exactly $522,363) Parallel Portal
Kill The Crows older $4.99 2,848 95% 85k $426k (exactly $426,346) 5minlab Corp.
Lithium City older $7.99 286 92% 8.6k $69k (exactly $68,554) Nico Tuason
Cyber Avenger older $12.99 131 87% 3.9k $51k (exactly $51,051) Quacky Games
Memory Lost $19.99 53 92% 1.6k $32k (exactly $31,784) Magic Hazard
Skautfold: Into the Fray older $9.99 85 89% 2.6k $25k (exactly $25,474) Steve Gal
UBERMOSH:SANTICIDE older $0.99 511 89% 15k $15k (exactly $15,177) Walter Machado
Hellwatch $9.99 27 44% 810 $8.1k (exactly $8,092) FG
LEO: Low Earth Orbit $2.99 4 100% 120 $359 (exactly $359) Bird Time Gameworks, Timothy Koh
Neon Knights $9.99 1 100% 30 $300 (exactly $300) VHornet Games
Final Shot $6.99 1 100% 30 $210 (exactly $210) AVTOSERVICE GAMES
Electro Havoc $5.99 1 100% 30 $180 (exactly $180) Ryan Matthews
FuryDough $1.99 2 100% 60 $119 (exactly $119) SquirrelConGafas
Data Drift: Cyberpunk Shooter Top Down indie action $2.99 1 0% 30 $90 (exactly $90) Napoterulle
TownBrawl $0.99 1 0% 30 $30 (exactly $30) TownBrawl

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