Games › Simulation › Simulation + Bullet Heaven
Should I ship a Bullet Heaven Simulation game?
Simulation + Bullet Heaven
Of 25 developers who shipped a Bullet Heaven Simulation 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.. 36 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×215 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 36 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
| Top 25% | $48k (exactly $47,900) |
| Top 5% | $135k (exactly $134,910) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 33 |
| Announced | 36 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 320% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Simulation
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Bullet Heaven
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Simulation, Bullet Heaven; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Incremental, Idler
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 6,227 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. None of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 36 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Simulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Escape RoomStrong odds
- + World War IFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + PinballFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + BirdsFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + MusicFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
Comparable games
Be My Horde 2024 · EA · $615k 
Astro Prospector 2025 · $482k 
Necrosmith 2022 · $438k 
Necrosmith 2 2024 · $315k 
Gigantes Ex Machina 2025 · EA · $135k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Be My Horde | · EA older | $9.99 | 2,052 85% | 62k | $615k (exactly $614,984) | Polished Games |
| | Astro Prospector | $4.99 | 3,223 91% | 97k | $482k (exactly $482,483) | Incrementalist | |
| | Necrosmith | older | $2.99 | 4,885 85% | 147k | $438k (exactly $438,185) | Alawar |
| | Necrosmith 2 | older | $7.99 | 1,315 77% | 39k | $315k (exactly $315,206) | Alawar |
| | Gigantes Ex Machina | · EA | $14.99 | 300 84% | 9.0k | $135k (exactly $134,910) | AcrylByte, SEO INSEOK |
 | Wireworks | $6.99 | 614 89% | 18k | $129k (exactly $128,756) | JJJ | |
 | Rock Crusher | $6.99 | 352 84% | 11k | $74k (exactly $73,814) | Mini Fun Games | |
 | Game of Grass | $6.99 | 275 84% | 8.3k | $58k (exactly $57,668) | Hipsterdufus | |
 | All Aboard! The Train Defense Express | $4.99 | 379 84% | 11k | $57k (exactly $56,736) | Likadev | |
 | DEFRAG | $2.99 | 534 93% | 16k | $48k (exactly $47,900) | BlueDot Studio | |
 | Antivirus PROTOCOL | $4.99 | 313 87% | 9.4k | $47k (exactly $46,856) | FIREHIVE Studio | |
 | ArmorSim | · EA | $18.99 | 77 57% | 2.3k | $44k (exactly $43,867) | Timerlan Galimov |
 | Incremental Infinity | $4.99 | 160 58% | 4.8k | $24k (exactly $23,952) | Rablo Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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