Do I ship it?

Games › Local Co-Op › Local Co-Op + Bullet Hell

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Local Co-Op Bullet Hell?

Local Co-Op + Bullet Hell

Of 113 developers who shipped a Local Co-Op Bullet Hell 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.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×3.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $120k, ×255 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 116 games are announced against 72 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.8 times the market baseline, revenue down 80% on the market, 116 announced, ×1.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Local Co-Op + Bullet Hell
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 113
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.8k → $2.7k → $6.4k → $2.6k → $4.2k → $2.6k → $599 (still earning) → $299 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Local Co-Op + Bullet Hell: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 113
Bottom 30% $299 (exactly $299)
Median $1.8k (exactly $1,796)
Top 25% $11k (exactly $10,795)
Top 5% $121k (exactly $120,969)
Developers, 2 yr 113
Released games 411
Announced 116
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 80% on the market, supply 70% 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 medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Local Co-Op
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 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
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Local Co-Op, Bullet Hell; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Co-op, Local Multiplayer
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 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 88% positive over 10,837 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $1.8k, 1 in 4 over $10k, 1 in 20 over $120k.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 51 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 116 games are announced against 72 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Local Co-Op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + LootStrong odds22 devs · median $7.3k · 21 announced
  2. + LGBTQ+Fair11 devs · median $14k · 12 announced
  3. + Artificial IntelligenceFair16 devs · median $11k · 15 announced
  4. + TriviaFair12 devs · median $7.5k · 13 announced
  5. + Action RPGFair68 devs · median $6.0k · 82 announced
  6. + ModernFair11 devs · median $3.6k · 10 announced
  7. + Dark FantasyFair40 devs · median $2.7k · 47 announced
  8. + Board GameFair35 devs · median $2.4k · 41 announced
  9. + Dungeon CrawlerFair49 devs · median $1.8k · 60 announced
  10. + MedievalFair46 devs · median $1.8k · 52 announced
  11. + Immersive SimFair22 devs · median $1.8k · 27 announced
  12. + Point & ClickFair12 devs · median $1.8k · 9 announced

All 151 pairs on the Local Co-Op page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Cuphead 2017 · $119M Vampire Survivors 2022 · $38M Enter the Gungeon 2016 · $36M Brotato 2023 · $17M Just Shapes & Beats 2018 · $14M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Cuphead older $19.99 198,790 96% 6.0M $119M (exactly $119,214,363) Studio MDHR Entertainment Inc.
Vampire Survivors older $4.99 251,686 98% 7.6M $38M (exactly $37,677,394) poncle
Enter the Gungeon older $14.99 79,392 95% 2.4M $36M (exactly $35,702,582) Dodge Roll
Brotato older $4.99 111,407 95% 3.3M $17M (exactly $16,677,628) Blobfish
Just Shapes & Beats older $19.99 24,041 97% 721k $14M (exactly $14,417,388) Berzerk Studio
Hero Siege older $7.99 36,844 67% 1.1M $8.8M (exactly $8,831,507) Panic Art Studios Ltd
Nuclear Throne older $11.99 15,047 96% 451k $5.4M (exactly $5,412,406) Vlambeer
Rabbit and Steel older $14.99 10,159 96% 305k $4.6M (exactly $4,568,502) mino_dev
One Step From Eden older $19.99 6,039 94% 181k $3.6M (exactly $3,621,588) Thomas Moon Kang
Dungreed older $9.99 8,988 93% 270k $2.7M (exactly $2,693,704) TEAM HORAY
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
Noobs Are Coming $7.99 1,580 82% 47k $379k (exactly $378,726) Overboy
Platypus Reclayed $14.99 641 99% 19k $288k (exactly $288,258) Claymatic Games
Bang Bang Barrage $7.99 757 95% 23k $181k (exactly $181,453) Monkey Bread
Shape Shifter: Formations $14.99 269 91% 8.1k $121k (exactly $120,969) Castec Studios
Truxton Extreme $24.99 93 95% 2.8k $70k (exactly $69,722) Tatsujin
Royal Revolt Survivors $9.99 205 77% 6.2k $61k (exactly $61,438) Team Warriors
UNDER DEFEAT $19.99 81 95% 2.4k $49k (exactly $48,576) CITY CONNECTION, TAKE×0FF
Survivor Mercs $9.99 147 70% 4.4k $44k (exactly $44,056) Wolpertinger Games

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