Games › Procedural Generation › Procedural Generation + Bullet Heaven
Should I ship a Procedural Generation Bullet Heaven?
Procedural Generation + Bullet Heaven
Of 58 developers who shipped a Procedural Generation Bullet Heaven 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.. 116 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.4k, ×7.2 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $230; 1 in 20 cleared $1.2M, ×2615 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 116 games are announced against 46 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $228 (exactly $228) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.4k (exactly $3,414) |
| Top 25% | $22k (exactly $21,733) |
| Top 5% | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 58 |
| Released games | 84 |
| Announced | 116 |
| 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 90% on the market, supply 255% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 2%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Procedural Generation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Bullet Heaven
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Procedural Generation, Bullet Heaven; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 64,043 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $230. 5 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 116 games are announced against 46 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Procedural Generation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SnowFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + DetectiveFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + IdlerFair
- + LogicFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + TrainsPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Neon Abyss | older | $31.49 | 19,709 86% | 591k | $19M (exactly $18,619,092) | Veewo Games |
| | Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor | $12.99 | 46,354 86% | 1.4M | $18M (exactly $18,064,154) | Funday Games | |
| | Death Must Die | · EA older | $6.99 | 20,937 90% | 628k | $4.4M (exactly $4,390,489) | Realm Archive |
| | Rogue: Genesia | $14.99 | 8,111 90% | 243k | $3.6M (exactly $3,647,517) | Ouadi Huard | |
| | Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok | older | $9.99 | 6,180 88% | 185k | $1.9M (exactly $1,852,146) | Noxfall Studios |
| | Pathogenic | $9.99 | 4,145 92% | 124k | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) | Aberrant Labs | |
| | God Of Weapons | older | $5.99 | 4,807 84% | 144k | $864k (exactly $863,818) | Imagine Games |
| | Picayune Dreams | older | $4.99 | 4,164 98% | 125k | $623k (exactly $623,351) | Stepford, Andyland, milkypossum |
| | Cultivation Story: Reincarnation | older | $9.99 | 1,994 92% | 60k | $598k (exactly $597,602) | Chi Entertainment Corp. |
| | Army of Ruin | older | $7.99 | 2,430 87% | 73k | $582k (exactly $582,471) | Milkstone Studios |
| | FatalZone | $6.99 | 2,125 66% | 64k | $446k (exactly $445,612) | Midhard Games | |
| | Funguys Swarm | $9.99 | 1,114 89% | 33k | $334k (exactly $333,866) | Stairway Games | |
| | RIFTSTORM | · EA | $14.99 | 659 70% | 20k | $296k (exactly $296,352) | Confiction Labs, Agate |
| | Sodaman | $7.99 | 738 78% | 22k | $177k (exactly $176,899) | Tape Corps | |
| | Ketz: Galactic Overlords | · EA | $8.99 | 386 71% | 12k | $104k (exactly $104,104) | Keep Games |
| | Murim Survival | $7.99 | 264 75% | 7.9k | $63k (exactly $63,281) | Sunwood Games | |
| | Survivor Mercs | $9.99 | 147 70% | 4.4k | $44k (exactly $44,056) | Wolpertinger Games |
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.