Games › Boomer Shooter › Boomer Shooter + Sci-fi
Should I ship a Sci-fi Boomer Shooter?
Boomer Shooter + Sci-fi
Of 115 developers who shipped a Sci-fi Boomer Shooter 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.. 150 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.1k, ×3.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $320; 1 in 20 cleared $830k, ×1322 the market median. Revenue is up 75% on the market; 150 games are announced against 71 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $315 (exactly $315) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $16,200) |
| Top 5% | $830k (exactly $830,423) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 115 |
| Released games | 222 |
| Announced | 150 |
| 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 75% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Boomer Shooter
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Sci-fi
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Boomer Shooter; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, FPS, Shooter
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Stylized
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 45,725 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $320. 8 in 10 of the 49 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 150 games are announced against 71 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Boomer Shooter with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Co-opFair
- + WarFair
- + DemonsFair
- + Bullet TimeFair
- + Psychological HorrorFair
- + ZombiesFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + SpaceFair
- + Survival HorrorFair
- + SurvivalLong shot
- + Hero ShooterLong shot
- + Female ProtagonistPoor odds
Comparable games
DOOM Eternal 2020 · $169M 
DOOM 2016 · $93M 
DOOM: The Dark Ages 2025 · $48M 
Trepang2 2023 · $19M 
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2023 · $10M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | DOOM Eternal | older | $29.99 | 187,483 91% | 5.6M | $169M (exactly $168,678,455) | id Software |
| | DOOM | older | $19.99 | 155,340 95% | 4.7M | $93M (exactly $93,157,398) | id Software |
| | DOOM: The Dark Ages | $49.99 | 32,209 88% | 966k | $48M (exactly $48,303,837) | id Software | |
| | Trepang2 | older | $39.99 | 15,774 93% | 473k | $19M (exactly $18,924,068) | Trepang Studios |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun | older | $21.99 | 15,741 90% | 472k | $10M (exactly $10,384,338) | Auroch Digital |
 | Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition | older | $39.99 | 7,849 89% | 235k | $9.4M (exactly $9,416,445) | People Can Fly |
 | DOOM + DOOM II | older | $9.99 | 25,468 96% | 764k | $7.6M (exactly $7,632,760) | id Software, Nightdive Studios |
 | Ion Fury | older | $24.99 | 5,649 93% | 169k | $4.2M (exactly $4,235,055) | Voidpoint, LLC |
 | Quake | older | $9.99 | 13,962 96% | 419k | $4.2M (exactly $4,184,411) | id Software, Nightdive Studios, Machine… (id Software, Nightdive Studios, MachineGames) |
 | Prodeus | older | $24.99 | 5,505 92% | 165k | $4.1M (exactly $4,127,098) | Bounding Box Software Inc. |
 | Beyond Citadel | $14.99 | 4,417 96% | 133k | $2.0M (exactly $1,986,325) | doekuramori | |
 | METAL EDEN | $19.99 | 1,920 84% | 58k | $1.2M (exactly $1,151,424) | Reikon Games | |
 | Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! | $24.99 | 1,352 92% | 41k | $1.0M (exactly $1,013,594) | Auroch Digital | |
 | Mohrta | $19.99 | 1,482 91% | 44k | $889k (exactly $888,755) | Scumhead, Osiol | |
 | Luna Abyss | $29.99 | 923 86% | 28k | $830k (exactly $830,423) | Kwalee Labs | |
 | Battle Shapers | $24.99 | 984 80% | 30k | $738k (exactly $737,705) | Metric Empire | |
 | Moros Protocol | $24.99 | 731 81% | 22k | $548k (exactly $548,031) | Pixel Reign | |
 | SPRAWL zero | $24.99 | 710 94% | 21k | $532k (exactly $532,287) | MAETH | |
 | INCISION | $14.99 | 997 85% | 30k | $448k (exactly $448,351) | SmoothBrainDev |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.