Do I ship it?

Games › Hack and Slash › Hack and Slash + Bullet Heaven

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Bullet Heaven Hack and Slash game?

Hack and Slash + Bullet Heaven

Of 70 developers who shipped a Bullet Heaven Hack and Slash game 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.. 97 more are announced.

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

The middle developer here made $8.3k, ×13 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $3.2M, ×5240 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 97 games are announced against 58 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 13.2 times the market baseline, revenue down 95% on the market, 97 announced, ×1.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Hack and Slash + Bullet Heaven
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 70
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $582k → $196k → $104k → $8.7k → $20k (still earning) → $882 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Hack and Slash + Bullet Heaven: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 70
Bottom 30% $836 (exactly $836)
Median $8.3k (exactly $8,284)
Top 25% $78k (exactly $78,213)
Top 5% $3.3M (exactly $3,290,905)
Developers, 2 yr 70
Released games 84
Announced 97
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 down 95% on the market, supply 385% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 4%, 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.

Hack and Slash
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Bullet Heaven
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
Hack and Slash, Bullet Heaven; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Roguelike
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 178,841 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $840, median $8.3k, 1 in 4 over $78k, 1 in 20 over $3.2M.

3 in 10 developers made under $840. 2 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 97 games are announced against 58 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Hack and Slash with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Turn-BasedStrong odds8 devs · median $14k · 1 announced
  2. + Turn-Based CombatStrong odds28 devs · median $3.7k · 27 announced
  3. + VampiresFair32 devs · median $7.2k · 37 announced
  4. + ModernFair13 devs · median $7.2k · 20 announced
  5. + IdlerFair32 devs · median $6.4k · 50 announced
  6. + IncrementalFair40 devs · median $1.7k · 57 announced
  7. + RomancePoor odds11 devs · median $119k · 25 announced
  8. + Visual NovelPoor odds11 devs · median $85k · 22 announced
  9. + Character Action GamePoor odds27 devs · median $58k · 80 announced
  10. + DestructionPoor odds19 devs · median $43k · 57 announced
  11. + LGBTQ+Poor odds17 devs · median $33k · 20 announced
  12. + AutomationPoor odds12 devs · median $21k · 26 announced

All 175 pairs on the Hack and Slash page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Megabonk 2025 · $30M Brotato 2023 · $17M Soulstone Survivors 2025 · $12M Halls of Torment 2024 · $6.1M Death Must Die 2023 · EA · $4.4M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Megabonk $9.99 100,202 94% 3.0M $30M (exactly $30,030,539) vedinad
Brotato older $4.99 111,407 95% 3.3M $17M (exactly $16,677,628) Blobfish
Soulstone Survivors $14.99 25,749 91% 772k $12M (exactly $11,579,325) Game Smithing Limited
Halls of Torment $6.66 30,752 95% 923k $6.1M (exactly $6,144,250) Chasing Carrots
Death Must Die · EA older $6.99 20,937 90% 628k $4.4M (exactly $4,390,489) Realm Archive
Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel $14.99 7,318 82% 220k $3.3M (exactly $3,290,905) Games Farm, ARTillery
Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos $12.99 6,281 68% 188k $2.4M (exactly $2,447,706) NANOO
WARRIORS: Abyss $24.99 2,015 85% 60k $1.5M (exactly $1,510,646) KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.
Temtem: Swarm $12.99 2,487 77% 75k $969k (exactly $969,184) Crema, GGTech Studios
Army of Ruin older $7.99 2,430 87% 73k $582k (exactly $582,471) Milkstone Studios
NIMRODS · EA $9.99 1,783 85% 53k $534k (exactly $534,365) Fiveamp
Shadow Dungeon $9.99 1,387 78% 42k $416k (exactly $415,684) OO Cat
Ascend to ZERO $11.99 867 82% 26k $312k (exactly $311,860) Flyway Games, Inc.

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