Do I ship it?

Games › Shooter › Shooter + Bullet Heaven

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Bullet Heaven Shooter?

Shooter + Bullet Heaven

Of 111 developers who shipped a Bullet Heaven 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.. 177 more are announced.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $990, ×1.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $110; 1 in 20 cleared $510k, ×815 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 177 games are announced against 89 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 95% on the market, 177 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Shooter + Bullet Heaven
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 111
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $21k → $62k → $2.5k → $11k → $7.3k → $22k → $1.4k (still earning) → $210 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Shooter + Bullet Heaven: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 111
Bottom 30% $101 (exactly $101)
Median $987 (exactly $987)
Top 25% $14k (exactly $14,028)
Top 5% $512k (exactly $512,045)
Developers, 2 yr 111
Released games 150
Announced 177
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 305% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 3%, 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.

Shooter
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 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
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Shooter, Bullet Heaven; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelite, Bullet Hell
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 18,905 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $110, median $990, 1 in 4 over $14k, 1 in 20 over $510k.

3 in 10 developers made under $110. 6 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 177 games are announced against 89 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Dating SimFair23 devs · median $9.8k · 17 announced
  2. + CollectathonFair69 devs · median $1.4k · 64 announced
  3. + VampiresFair38 devs · median $1.3k · 41 announced
  4. + Walking SimulatorFair68 devs · median $1.2k · 62 announced
  5. + IdlerFair70 devs · median $836 · 59 announced
  6. + Match 3Fair15 devs · median $719 · 5 announced
  7. + SnowFair22 devs · median $570 · 23 announced
  8. + Boss RushFair16 devs · median $537 · 20 announced
  9. + IncrementalFair85 devs · median $479 · 88 announced
  10. + ArcadeLong shot1,151 devs · median $419 · 1,332 announced
  11. + Score AttackLong shot372 devs · median $300 · 352 announced
  12. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds25 devs · median $139k · 45 announced

All 229 pairs on the Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Neon Abyss 2020 · $19M Deadly Days: Roadtrip 2025 · EA · $1.3M Pathogenic 2026 · $1.2M Greedland 2025 · $1.1M Vampire Hunters 2024 · $873k
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
Deadly Days: Roadtrip · EA $14.99 2,855 87% 86k $1.3M (exactly $1,283,894) Pixelsplit
Pathogenic $9.99 4,145 92% 124k $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) Aberrant Labs
Greedland $12.99 2,919 83% 88k $1.1M (exactly $1,137,534) VaMP He
Vampire Hunters $14.99 1,941 89% 58k $873k (exactly $872,868) Gamecraft Studios
Army of Ruin older $7.99 2,430 87% 73k $582k (exactly $582,471) Milkstone Studios
Grind Survivors $12.99 1,332 69% 40k $519k (exactly $519,080) Pushka Studios
Reality Break $24.99 683 80% 20k $512k (exactly $512,045) Element Games, LLC
Astro Prospector $4.99 3,223 91% 97k $482k (exactly $482,483) Incrementalist
Time Wasters older $4.99 2,549 88% 76k $382k (exactly $381,585) Proton Studio
RIFTSTORM · EA $14.99 659 70% 20k $296k (exactly $296,352) Confiction Labs, Agate
Genome Guardian 2 · EA $15.99 410 95% 12k $197k (exactly $196,677) Alpherior
Sodaman $7.99 738 78% 22k $177k (exactly $176,899) Tape Corps

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