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Should I ship a Building Top-Down Shooter?
Building + Top-Down Shooter
Of 41 developers who shipped a Building Top-Down 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.. 74 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $750, ×1.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×184 the market median. Revenue is up 145% on the market; 74 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $240 (exactly $240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $748 (exactly $748) |
| Top 25% | $4.7k (exactly $4,668) |
| Top 5% | $115k (exactly $115,454) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 41 |
| Released games | 110 |
| Announced | 74 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 145% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building, Top-Down Shooter; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Base Building, Survival
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 27,448 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 23 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 74 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + CatsFair
- + TabletopFair
- + Grid-Based MovementFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + Vehicular CombatPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + CrimePoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
Comparable games
BALL x PIT 2025 · $11M 
Starcom: Unknown Space 2024 · $3.3M 
Cluckmech Oasis 2024 · $922k 
Achilles: Survivor 2025 · $392k 
Shakedown: Hawaii 2020 · $387k | 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 | |
| | Starcom: Unknown Space | older | $24.99 | 4,464 92% | 134k | $3.3M (exactly $3,346,661) | Wx3 Labs, LLC |
| | Cluckmech Oasis | older | $9.99 | 3,077 87% | 92k | $922k (exactly $922,177) | BlackLight |
| | Achilles: Survivor | $8.99 | 1,454 81% | 44k | $392k (exactly $392,144) | Dark Point Games | |
| | Shakedown: Hawaii | older | $19.99 | 645 90% | 19k | $387k (exactly $386,806) | Vblank Entertainment, Inc. |
 | Titan Attacks! | older | $9.99 | 654 92% | 20k | $196k (exactly $196,004) | Puppygames |
 | Landinar: Into the Void | older | $19.99 | 234 55% | 7.0k | $140k (exactly $140,330) | Convoy Games |
 | Star Vortex | · EA | $24.99 | 154 84% | 4.6k | $115k (exactly $115,454) | Zorg Games |
 | Space Scavenger | older | $12.99 | 289 86% | 8.7k | $113k (exactly $112,623) | Red Cabin Games |
 | Super Raft Boat Together | older | $14.99 | 209 81% | 6.3k | $94k (exactly $93,987) | Shattered Journal Games |
 | Desperate Place | $10.99 | 253 66% | 7.6k | $83k (exactly $83,414) | BruceGalaxy | |
 | Ash & Adam's Existential Treads | $6.99 | 340 92% | 10k | $71k (exactly $71,298) | Ash & Adam's Games | |
 | No Escape from Madness | $11.99 | 197 60% | 5.9k | $71k (exactly $70,861) | qiqin | |
 | Artificial Extinction 2 | $19.99 | 113 77% | 3.4k | $68k (exactly $67,766) | 100Hr Games Inc | |
 | Kill A Million Rats | $10.99 | 64 89% | 1.9k | $21k (exactly $21,101) | Nerdook Productions | |
 | The Last Drop | $4.99 | 50 64% | 1.5k | $7.5k (exactly $7,485) | Bonobos Games | |
 | Blood Night | · EA | $1.99 | 109 95% | 3.3k | $6.5k (exactly $6,507) | Team |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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