Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Bullet Hell

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Bullet Hell Flight game?

Flight + Bullet Hell

Of 83 developers who shipped a Bullet Hell Flight 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.. 96 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 45 developers shipped in the last year and 96 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 70% on the market, 96 announced, ×2.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Bullet Hell
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 83
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $716 → $899 → $776 → $718 → $2.3k → $299 → $239 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Bullet Hell: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 83
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $359 (exactly $359)
Top 25% $2.3k (exactly $2,336)
Top 5% $49k (exactly $49,316)
Developers, 2 yr 83
Released games 277
Announced 96
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 70% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, 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.

Flight
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Bullet Hell
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
Flight, Bullet Hell; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Shooter
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Colorful
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 85% positive over 1,855 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $360, 1 in 4 over $2.3k, 1 in 20 over $49k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 96 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair9 devs · median $2.4k · 11 announced
  2. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $1.3k · 10 announced
  3. + Quick-Time EventsFair9 devs · median $657 · 9 announced
  4. + CatsFair6 devs · median $629 · 10 announced
  5. + Life SimPoor odds12 devs · median $70k · 29 announced
  6. + TradingPoor odds6 devs · median $36k · 21 announced
  7. + MiningPoor odds10 devs · median $35k · 13 announced
  8. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $19k · 57 announced
  9. + Base BuildingPoor odds23 devs · median $17k · 48 announced
  10. + EconomyPoor odds20 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  11. + RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $15k · 18 announced
  12. + Cold WarPoor odds10 devs · median $11k · 16 announced

All 132 pairs on the Flight page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

LUFTRAUSERS 2014 · $1.0M Sky Force Reloaded 2017 · $805k Jet Lancer 2020 · $521k CYGNI: All Guns Blazing 2024 · $403k Mirage Feathers 2024 · $384k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
LUFTRAUSERS older $9.99 3,398 91% 102k $1.0M (exactly $1,018,381) Vlambeer
Sky Force Reloaded older $9.99 2,687 92% 81k $805k (exactly $805,294) Infinite Dreams
Jet Lancer older $14.99 1,158 92% 35k $521k (exactly $520,753) Code Wakers
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing older $29.99 448 60% 13k $403k (exactly $403,066) KeelWorks
Mirage Feathers older $4.99 2,566 98% 77k $384k (exactly $384,130) oyasumi Workshop
Whisker Squadron: Survivor $19.99 485 77% 15k $291k (exactly $290,854) Flippfly LLC
Disassembly 3D older $29.99 309 81% 9.3k $278k (exactly $278,007) Khor Chin Heong
Warhammer 40,000: Dakka Squadron - Flyboyz Edition older $19.99 416 78% 12k $249k (exactly $249,475) Phosphor Game Studios
Nienix: Cosmic Warfare older $19.99 336 87% 10k $201k (exactly $201,499) HolmCom
Touhou Mechanical Scrollery | 幻想討幻経 older $19.99 243 53% 7.3k $146k (exactly $145,727) 巫女さん作法
Starbreed $10.99 271 95% 8.1k $89k (exactly $89,349) RegulusNSFW
Airships: Lost Flotilla $8.99 290 92% 8.7k $78k (exactly $78,213) David Stark
Raiden NOVA | 雷電NOVA | 雷電新星 $29.99 66 72% 2.0k $59k (exactly $59,380) MOSS Co., Ltd.
BEHEMOTH $3.99 412 88% 12k $49k (exactly $49,316) The Behemoth
東方资志疏 ~ Immortal Immanuel. (东方资志疏) $9.99 103 94% 3.1k $31k (exactly $30,869) 雾雨威Channel, 沙包聚集地制作组
Sexy Iron Maidens $4.99 123 69% 3.7k $18k (exactly $18,413) Earl Marx
Apidya' Special $19.99 30 93% 900 $18k (exactly $17,991) Team Apidya
无梦少女 DreamlessGirl $9.99 49 65% 1.5k $15k (exactly $14,685) REZEROR STUDIO
Syder Reloaded $11.99 26 88% 780 $9.4k (exactly $9,352) Studio Evil

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