Do I ship it?

Games › Building › Building + Bullet Hell

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Building Bullet Hell?

Building + Bullet Hell

Of 44 developers who shipped a Building Bullet Hell 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.. 65 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $540, ×0.9 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $710k, ×1136 the market median. Revenue is up 115% on the market; 65 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 115% on the market, 65 announced, ×2.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Building + Bullet Hell
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 44
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $28k → $449 → $179 → $839 → $1.4k → $628 → $449 (still earning) → $240 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Building + Bullet Hell: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 44
Bottom 30% $270 (exactly $270)
Median $539 (exactly $539)
Top 25% $4.5k (exactly $4,496)
Top 5% $713k (exactly $713,223)
Developers, 2 yr 44
Released games 107
Announced 65
Effort 5 / 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 up 115% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, 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.

Building
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Bullet Hell
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Building, Bullet Hell; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelite, Action Roguelike
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 30,474 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $270, median $540, 1 in 4 over $4.4k, 1 in 20 over $710k.

3 in 10 developers made under $270. Nearly all of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 65 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Job SimulatorStrong odds66 devs · median $28k · 70 announced
  2. + CatsFair52 devs · median $4.5k · 59 announced
  3. + TabletopFair56 devs · median $1.9k · 58 announced
  4. + Grid-Based MovementFair50 devs · median $719 · 57 announced
  5. + Interactive FictionFair17 devs · median $449 · 20 announced
  6. + Vehicular CombatPoor odds14 devs · median $303k · 40 announced
  7. + JRPGPoor odds10 devs · median $89k · 20 announced
  8. + Dating SimPoor odds28 devs · median $85k · 61 announced
  9. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds112 devs · median $71k · 251 announced
  10. + Real-TimePoor odds14 devs · median $62k · 20 announced
  11. + CrimePoor odds13 devs · median $55k · 52 announced
  12. + SailingPoor odds13 devs · median $52k · 40 announced

All 210 pairs on the Building page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

BALL x PIT 2025 · $11M Reassembly 2015 · $1.6M Monsters are Coming! 2025 · $733k ShapeHero Factory 2025 · $713k Achilles: Survivor 2025 · $392k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
BALL x PIT $14.99 24,714 95% 741k $11M (exactly $11,113,886) Kenny Sun and Friends
Reassembly older $14.99 3,611 94% 108k $1.6M (exactly $1,623,867) Anisoptera Games
Monsters are Coming! $8.99 2,718 79% 82k $733k (exactly $733,045) Ludogram
ShapeHero Factory $23.99 991 88% 30k $713k (exactly $713,223) Asobism.Co.,Ltd
Achilles: Survivor $8.99 1,454 81% 44k $392k (exactly $392,144) Dark Point Games
Disassembly 3D older $29.99 309 81% 9.3k $278k (exactly $278,007) Khor Chin Heong
Titan Attacks! older $9.99 654 92% 20k $196k (exactly $196,004) Puppygames
Wee Tanks! older $9.99 548 90% 16k $164k (exactly $164,236) Studio Kit
MOTHERGUNSHIP: FORGE older $19.99 253 93% 7.6k $152k (exactly $151,724) Terrible Posture Games
Disassembly VR older $29.99 157 59% 4.7k $141k (exactly $141,253) Khor Chin Heong
The Gate Must Stand $9.99 236 78% 7.1k $71k (exactly $70,729) Senmu Studio
ArmorSim · EA $18.99 77 57% 2.3k $44k (exactly $43,867) Timerlan Galimov
Deliria $9.99 136 61% 4.1k $41k (exactly $40,759) Linesway
Cast Out Colony $9.99 72 91% 2.2k $22k (exactly $21,578) Wooshido
eXoSpace Combat Engineer · EA $14.99 44 81% 1.3k $20k (exactly $19,787) Fantastimaker
Siegecaster $8.99 32 62% 960 $8.6k (exactly $8,630) Half Human Games, Boss Corridor

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