Do I ship it?

Games › Bullet Heaven › Bullet Heaven + Twin Stick Shooter

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Bullet Heaven Twin Stick Shooter?

Bullet Heaven + Twin Stick Shooter

Of 51 developers who shipped a Bullet Heaven Twin Stick 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.. 57 more are announced.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $11k, ×23 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $960; 1 in 20 cleared $1.1M, ×2395 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 57 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 22.7 times the market baseline, revenue down 85% on the market, 57 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Bullet Heaven + Twin Stick Shooter
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 51
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $99k → $16k → $12k → $121k → $20k → $21k (still earning) → $959 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Bullet Heaven + Twin Stick Shooter: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 51
Bottom 30% $959 (exactly $959)
Median $11k (exactly $10,778)
Top 25% $49k (exactly $48,816)
Top 5% $1.1M (exactly $1,137,534)
Developers, 2 yr 51
Released games 75
Announced 57
Effort 3 / 10
AI-buildability High
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 85% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 5%, 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 high: the lowest rating among its tags.

Bullet Heaven
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
Twin Stick Shooter
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
Systems
Bullet Heaven, Twin Stick Shooter; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Bullet Hell, Roguelite
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 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 89% positive over 43,617 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $960, median $11k, 1 in 4 over $48k, 1 in 20 over $1.1M.

3 in 10 developers made under $960. 5 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 57 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Online Co-OpStrong odds27 devs · median $9.3k · 38 announced
  2. + Class-BasedFair21 devs · median $2.4k · 38 announced
  3. + CraftingPoor odds20 devs · median $44k · 25 announced
  4. + Dungeon CrawlerPoor odds19 devs · median $32k · 32 announced
  5. + Action RPGPoor odds77 devs · median $25k · 91 announced
  6. + Post-apocalypticPoor odds21 devs · median $17k · 53 announced
  7. + LootPoor odds54 devs · median $14k · 100 announced
  8. + Tower DefensePoor odds29 devs · median $12k · 69 announced
  9. + ZombiesPoor odds22 devs · median $11k · 40 announced
  10. + RPGPoor odds120 devs · median $9.3k · 156 announced
  11. + Hack and SlashPoor odds70 devs · median $8.3k · 97 announced
  12. + Dark FantasyPoor odds68 devs · median $4.8k · 97 announced

All 48 pairs on the Bullet Heaven page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Soulstone Survivors 2025 · $12M Rogue: Genesia 2025 · $3.6M Greedland 2025 · $1.1M Temtem: Swarm 2026 · $969k NIMRODS 2024 · EA · $534k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Soulstone Survivors $14.99 25,749 91% 772k $12M (exactly $11,579,325) Game Smithing Limited
Rogue: Genesia $14.99 8,111 90% 243k $3.6M (exactly $3,647,517) Ouadi Huard
Greedland $12.99 2,919 83% 88k $1.1M (exactly $1,137,534) VaMP He
Temtem: Swarm $12.99 2,487 77% 75k $969k (exactly $969,184) Crema, GGTech Studios
NIMRODS · EA $9.99 1,783 85% 53k $534k (exactly $534,365) Fiveamp
The Knight Witch older $19.99 643 72% 19k $386k (exactly $385,607) Super Mega Team
Time Wasters older $4.99 2,549 88% 76k $382k (exactly $381,585) Proton Studio
Wings of Seduction: Bust 'em out! older $12.99 904 93% 27k $352k (exactly $352,289) Ramen Cat Studio
RIFTSTORM · EA $14.99 659 70% 20k $296k (exactly $296,352) Confiction Labs, Agate
Crafty Survivors $11.99 712 83% 21k $256k (exactly $256,106) Flannel Bear Games
Genome Guardian 2 · EA $15.99 410 95% 12k $197k (exactly $196,677) Alpherior
Entropy Survivors $9.99 487 80% 15k $146k (exactly $145,954) Moving Pieces Interactive
Gigantes Ex Machina · EA $14.99 300 84% 9.0k $135k (exactly $134,910) AcrylByte, SEO INSEOK

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